The Justice League, The Phoenix Force, The X-Men, and Wally
by riptidedarkphoenix
Summary: Kid flash ends up in the X-men world but just wants to get home. Meanwhile, Jean Grey finds herself in the Young Justice World, but with Phoenix force constantly trying to possess her, things get a little messy. Takes place about a year after both of the shows have ended. Teen for violence, and may include the deaths of some characters (NOT Teen for cussing or suggestive themes).
1. THE BEGINNING

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything (young justice or x-men evolution; If I did, they would never end.)**

 **Author's note: This takes place directly after the last episode of YJ ended. On the X-men: Evolution timeline this takes place a year or so after the show ended.**

 **More Notes:I wasn't the only person that cried when Wally died on the last episode of YJ, right? I love Impulse, but he can never fill the void Kid Flash left in my heart, so I will refer to him as Impulse or Bart.**

 **Pairings? Well you'll have to read and find out.**

 **Kid Flash**

He was in the middle of a blizzard at the center of the north pole, yet, somehow, Kid Flash was wearing nothing but his skin tight yellow spandex suit. With the fate of the world depending on the destruction of the twenty-first alien chrysalis, Kid flash hadn't stopped to grab a pair of winter clothes.

As Flash, Kid flash, and Impulse ran around the alien chrysalis, Kidflash couldn't help thinking,

' _Running in circles. It always comes down to this. Running in circles.'_

As the Flash and Impulse passed him again, Wally couldn't help but feel a tinge of worry. It was worsened when the energy from the alien device began targeting Wally for his slower speeds.

"Bart," the Flash yelled to the youngest speedster,

"We have to slow down more. Try to Siphon off some of the Energy attacking Wally."

The alien energy shot at Wally like lightning, causing him to fade and become intangible.

"It's no good Barry. Aw man, Artemis is gonna kill me for this! And don't even get me started on mom and dad." Wally responded

"Kid?" The Flash asked questioningly.

Kidflash kept running as fast as he could until he was completely unaware of anything that surrounded him. Everything turned to a blur.

"Just tell them, Okay?" Wally said.

Without warning, he got a far off look in his eyes and faded from existence.

"KID!" The flash yelled,

but he was too late.

Barry and Bart shut down the chrysalis, and soon the other members of the team were surrounding them in congratulations. Artemis was the first person to notice something was wrong.

"Wait!" She cried. "Where's Wally?"

 **Jean Grey**

It had been nearly a year since the x-men had defeated Apocalypse, but that doesn't mean they hadn't been busy.

"Logan, if the black bird goes higher into the atmosphere we won't survive re-entry!" Scott yelled from his seat as Wolverine piloted the Jet towards the sky at full-speed. The g-forces, lack of oxygen, and coldness were all taking a considerable hold on the x-man crew.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH" screamed Sabretooth,

who was clinging to the outside of the jet. Despite the speed of the wind as it swirled past his face, he impressively managed to hold on to the hull of the jet. Red lights and alarms flared as he punctured the engine with his claws.

"Logan!" Screamed kitty "I knew we shouldn't have taken the BlackBird to get ice cream!"

She was currently pinned to her seat on the jet by gravity, and unable to open her eyes as she screamed.

"Vat are you talking about?" Kurt yelled in reply.

He too was suffering due to the rapid acceleration and aerial maneuvers of the flight. Wolverine banked rapidly, trying to get Sabertooth to lose his grip.

"It Was your idea to take the jet to the store. Why did we need to take the jet to the store?" Rouge said in between barrel rolls and Sabertooth's and Wolverine's cussing.

"It looked really cool..." Kitty mumbled,

which was barely heard over the roaring jet engine.

"Logan!" Jean said calmly "The Blackbird was not meant to withstand space."

"I'll take her back down as soon as we lose our extra passenger!" Wolverine replied, and with a jerk of the controls, The x-men's jet ascended even higher. With a roar, Sabretooth released his grip on the Blackbird, falling back to the earth, but enough damage was done to the engine.

"I've lost control!" Wolverine realized too late.

The jet kept going farther and farther, and soon nearly all of the x-men were unconscious from the sheer g-forces.

"Jean."

Wolverine managed to get her attention. We need to land the…"

and soon Logan had passed out as well. Jean wasn't faring much better, she wasn't one of the strongest x-men.

"I...must…"Jean muttered.

Laboring to breathe, her mind fuddled by the definite lack of oxygen, and her body bombarded by the radiation of space, Jean felt a presence, deep inside of her. One that was awoken only when she was in the utmost danger. A presence that she thought had been destroyed, and locked away forever. Jean knew she had to let it take over because it was the only way to save her friends.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jean screamed as her body was overtaken by cosmic flames. Suddenly, she didn't need oxygen anymore. Flying to the controls, her mind instantly cleared, and she steered the jet back into the atmosphere.

"Hold own guys!" She yelled, as she used her now-enhanced telekinetic powers to shield her companions from flying objects and the intense heat of reentry.

As the jet nose-dived, Jean felt the presence, the phoenix force, overtaking her body.

"No No NO!" She yelled, trying to contain it.

Looking to the her unconscious companions, she whispered

"I'm sorry Scott. But I love you."

And with those words, she poured every last ounce of the energy into shielding her friends. Like a comet they crashed back to Earth. The jet ripped into pieces. Cosmic fire surrounded them. Sacrificing herself, Jean Grey, possessor of the phoenix force, died so her friends could live.

When Scott came too, he was lying in the middle of a carter.

"What happened?" He asked out loud.

He looked over to see the other x-men. Kurt was just coming to.

"Oh! My head." Kurt groaned.

Dazed, Scott stood up. The group appeared to be on an uninhabited tropical island. The crater they stood in seemed the size of a football stadium, and had demolished part of the beach and jungle.

"Jean!" Scott yelled.

He only had blurry memories of a blazing figure standing at the jet controls.

"JEAN! He saw her, lying motionless.

Halfway running and halfway stumbling he raced to her side.

"JEEEAAN!" He screamed in agony, dropping to his knees.

He didn't notice as the other x-men silently surrounded him.

"Jean why?" Scott whispered, broken.

 **1st off- REVIEW!**

 **2nd off- SOOOOOOOOO….. Did you guys like it? I promise it will get less depressing soon! And, yes, the phoenix force will kind of play a big role in this story.**

 **3rdly- What did I do right? What did I do wrong? TELL ME! If you want to see certain storylines/events/pairings let me know.**


	2. Chapter 2

**SIT BACK**

 **And enjoy…**

 **Wally**

Wally was running as fast as he could. In circles

' _Circles'_ he thought ' _Why does beating the bad guys always come down to running in circles?'_

That's when Wally realized he didn't know why he was running.

"Who am I fighting?" He wondered out loud.

His memory was fuzzy, and the scenery blurring past made it too difficult to see anything. Realizing he was tired of running, he stopped. He appeared to be in a wooded area, just outside of a town called Bayville. As he looked around he shivered. It was cold out.

"I must be in a Northern state." He mused "maybe Maine or New York…"

The cold. It all came back to him as quick as lightning. The North Pole, The Chrysalis, Artemis.

He tried to take off running, but he could barely jog at a normal pace. Wally couldn't remember the last time he had eaten.

"I guess I better find someplace to stay, and something to eat." He said out loud to no one in particular.

"It's not like the world is going to end if I take a break and find a snack." Half limping, he made his way into the town. He felt conspicuous walking in his yellow skin tight suit down main street. People gave him dirty looks as he passed.

"Mutie!" A couple of kids yelled at him.

"Wait!" Kid flash yelled as they ran off. "What's a Mutie?"

Deciding not to waste his energy, Wally walked into the nearest store. Grabbing a box donuts, Wally walked up to the counter.

The cashier, an overweight heavily tattooed man, only glared at him. His name tag said Stacey on it. Kid Flash decided he did not look at all like a Stacey.

"Shoot! I don't know if I have any cash!" Wally absent-mindedly said, checking the compartments in his suit. Kid Flash was not only lost, but broke

"I wouldn't take nothing from a mutant like you anyway." The cashier said in a disgusted manner.

"What are you talking about?" Said Wally, confused.

' _You think people would be more grateful that I just helped save the world'_

"Get out of my store you freak!" The cashier raised his voice.

"Listen" pleaded Wally "I'm Kid Flash, not some bad guy! And I just want to buy some doughnuts!"

Wally was so busy arguing with the man that he didn't see the tall leather-clad young man enter the store. Tall and rough looking with dark brown hair and tan skin, he had a kind of arrogant air that detracted from his natural good looks.

"I got it Kid" He said dropping a couple bucks on the counter.

"Lance, I told you I didn't want you boys stinking up my store!" The cashier looked angry as he addressed Lance.

"Listen buddy," Lance said with a gleam in his eyes. "You can help my friend out, or you can have your store dropped on your head."

Kid Flash became aware of a rumbling noise, and the tip jar on the counter began to rattle. Stacey instantly paled.

"Here, take it! Leave me alone!"

Lance snatched the doughnuts off the counter, and sauntered to the door. The ground trembled, causing the glass tip jar on the counter to fall to the floor with a smash.

"Woah, man! No need to get violent." said Kid Flash in surprise. Using his speed he quickly picked up the broken glass from the ground and deposited it in the trashcan. Lance looked a little shocked to see a speedster, but quickly regained his nonchalant composure.

Kid Flash followed Lance out the door and into the town. He also immediately began stuffing his face with the doughnuts. As they turned into an alley Lance said

"Names Avalanche, but you can call me lance."

"Kid Flash" Wally replied, not trusting the stranger with his name.

"You got a death wish or something, kid? Walking down main street with all this mutant paranoia takes guts."

"Mutants? Wait, do you mean metas?" Kid flash asked

"Metas?" Lance said with a skeptical look "Call'em what you want. Mutants, Metas, freaks with powers. People like you and me."

"Like the Justice league?"

"The What league?"

Lance's reply rang a warning bell in Kid Flash's mind. He was just starting to recover from finding himself in a strange town with no memory of how he got there. But he knew nothing about this teenager named "Avalanche" (aka Lance). And Lance knew nothing about the Justice League.

"Right. Thanks for the doughnuts." Kid Flash felt a little wary because Lance had threatened that store cashier, but then again, that cashier was about a friendly as batman before he had his first cup of coffee in the morning.

"By the way, What day is it?" Kid Flash asked.

It felt too cold to be June.

"Uhh, April?" Lance replied.

"APRIL!" Kid Flash was shocked "It's been a year since…" he stopped, not knowing what to say. He knew that the public had only recently found out about Meta-humans, but it was april now. That meant it he was missing nearly a year of his life. But the thing was, it didn't feel like a year was missing. Everything seemed strange, this town, Lance, mutants, but KF couldn't believe he was missing a year.

 _'Artemis will really kill me now...'_

As Wally ran his hands through his red hair Lance said,

"Listen Kid Splash,"

"It's Flash."

"Whatever your name is. If you need a place to stay, you can come crash at my place. I got a couple of lousy roommates, but we are always on the lookout for people like us, mutants who just need a little help."

Kid Flash felt unsure about Lance's offer. Lance seemed nice, but there was something off about him that made KF feel uneasy.

Then Kid Flash remembered that Lance had given him doughnuts.

Doughnuts are good. KidFlash felt like he could trust somebody who gave out free doughnuts. Also, there was the whole problem of figuring out what the heck was going on in this town. Kid Flash had a feeling that Lance could give him the answers.

"Sure man, that'd be great."

Lance smiled. He didn't know who this Kid Flash character was, but he had seen enough to know that he didn't want the x-men to get a hold of him.

' _It's better if all the speedsters are on the side of the brotherhood.'_ Lance thought to himself as Kid Flash happily munched on the doughnuts.

Meanwhile, Wally was having similar thoughts

' _It's better that this guy is on my side than against me… I'll play it safe until I can figure out what is happening here, and how I can get home._

 **Scott**

The ride from the coastal island where the team had crashed back to the Institute was silent. Logan had used a communicator to get Professor Xavier's attention, who had found the team of x-men a ride very easily.

Five living x-men.

One dead.

Scott was in shock. Physically, and mentally. All he did on the ride back was hold Jean's lifeless body and stroke her red hair.

The rest of the team wasn't much better.

Kurt was in tears, holding Kitty who had a broken arm and a shell-shocked look on her face.

Rouge kept whispering quietly,

"Why...why...why…"

Wolverine was angry.

He had seen so much death and destruction before, and all the memories were flooding back to him as he sat on the plane.

The Professor came out to meet the team when they landed, along with Storm and Beast. All of the other students had been sent to their rooms.

When Beast tried to take Jean's body Scott started screaming and fighting back.

"NO NO NO! SHE'S MINE!"

The other x-men quickly held him down as Beast covered the corpse with a shroud and quickly took it inside. Scott broke free, but instead of running towards the mansion, he threw a small glittering object on the ground and ran off into the grounds.

Storm picked it up.

It was an engagement ring.

"Oh no" she said in her smooth rich voice.

"Scott, come back!"

' _Ororo, Scott could be extremely vulnerable in this state.'_ Xavier said telepathically. "Gather a few of the older students. Tell them they are going to find Scott."

Meanwhile, Scott was running through the woods as fast as he could. He came to the middle of a clearing, and screaming in anger, blasted a tree with his heat vision.

Then he heard the voices.

It was Lance Alvarez,

"Haha, you sure are weird kid, but you can trust us. We just want what's best for mutantkind."

And somebody else was with Lance.

"Ok, so what have you got to eat around here?"

' _I could really go for some fried supervillain just about now'_ Scott thought angrily.

Lance walked into the clearing with a strange teenager who was dressed in tight yellow spandex with goggles. He sported a shock of unruly red hair as well. Without questioning them, Scott yelled in rage and shot a beam directly at them. Using his superspeed to dodge, Kid Flash pulled Lance out of the way.

"Who are you?" Kid Flash asked Cyclops.

Unable to think straight, Scott yelled

"NO!"

And began shooting his eye beams again.

"So you want a fight, Cyclops?" Lance yelled. Taking a fighting stance, Lance tensed up and his eyes rolled back in his head. Waves of earthquakes rolled towards Scott, effectively knocking him over. His red sunglasses fell off his face as well.

As his glasses fell off, Cyclops didn't even try to close his eyes. Like a brutal animal he screamed in rage and totally desolated the forest clearing.

Kid Flash was busy dodging lasers and trying to keep himself and Avalanche alive.

He attempted to reason with this Scott.

"What gives?" Kid Flash said "You could kill someone if you don't calm down!"

That was the wrong thing to say.

Scotts beams only grew stronger and more destructive until Avalanche yelled

"THE GLASSES, put the glasses on his face!"

A yellow streak among a blaze of red, KF jammed the red-tinted sunglasses back on to Scott's face. Jabbing him in the head several times, Scott passed out partially from shock and exhaustion as well as the head trauma. Cyclops lay unconscious on the ground, Kid Flash stood panting in the middle of a desolate, ravaged clearing, and Avalanche was sitting on the ground, bleeding badly from road burns.

At that moment, Ororo flew into the clearing.

"Scott" she exclaimed. "He's over here!"

Looking up she saw Kid Flash.

"Who are…" she began to ask him until she saw Lance.

Storm's eyes narrowed and began to glow

"You…"

"Kid, we gotta get out of here!" Lance yelled. Quickly, KF picked up the bleeding Avalanche and sped out of the clearing.

' _We will deal with the brotherhood later Ororo.'_ Came The Professor's always soothing voice.

"But Charles, did you see that red-headed boy?"

' _Yes. And I will look into him as well. But now, Scott needs immediate medical attention.'_

 **1st off-REVIEW PLEASE…**

 **2nd off- In case you don't know the character names and alias, here is what I have used so far, and may possibly use**

 **Kid Flash=Wally West**

 **Avalanche=Lance Alvarez**

 **Cyclops=Scott Summers**

 **Jean Grey=Jean Grey(possessor of the Phoenix Force)**

 **Storm=Ororo**

 **The Professor=Charles Xavier**

 **Shadowcat=Kitty Pryde**

 **Nightcrawler=Kurt Wagner**

 **Wolverine=Logan (James Howlett, but rarely called that)**

 **Sabretooth=Victor Creed**

 **Quicksilver=Pietro Maximoff**

 **Artemis=Artemis**

 **Nightwing=Dick Grayson**

 **Impulse(New Kid Flash)=Bart Allen**

 **Flash=Barry Allen**

 **Beast=Hank McCoy**

 **Beast Boy= Garfield Logan**

 **Batman=it's a secret shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell anyone (Bruce Wayne)**


	3. Chapter 3

**HEY THERE! Ready for another Chapter?**

 **Artemis**

SMACK

Barely a year.

SMACK

And people expected Artemis to be done grieving.

SMACK

A third green-tipped arrow landed in the center of the target. The shooing range of the Watchtower was empty, save for a single figure. Artemis brushed her blond hair out of her face as she took aim and fired again. Right as she released the arrow, Artemis thought she saw a flash of yellow behind her. She flinched and the arrow went wild, embedding itself in the wall instead of the target.

"Wa…" Artemis said as she jerked around to face the yellow clad figure.

She held her tongue when she saw that it was only Impulse, who was now going by Kid Flash.

"Oh," she said trying not to sound dejected. "It's you."

Impulse shifted from foot to foot awkwardly.

"Yeah, me."

Ever since Wally had died, the team had dealt with their grief in various ways. Artemis trained and tried to act normal around the others, but cried herself to sleep every night. Impulse had become less cocky and more unsure of himself, especially around Artemis.

"It's Okay, Bart, We're all still dealing with...you know what." Artemis tried to offer Bart a smile.

It had become an unspoken rule that the Young Justice team didn't talk about Wally.

"Listen Artemis, I was going to talk to Night Wing. We are all worried about him." Impulse said

"I've noticed." she replied.

Night Wing had been dealing with his grief by obsessively hunting down members of the reach, the light, and any of their associates.

"Yeah, let's go."

The two transported back down to Gotham where Night Wing had his headquarters set up.

It was more of a run-down apartment than a bat-cave. The room was dark and musty, with pictures and papers stuck, tacked, and taped to every wall.

Artemis and Impulse walked in carefully

"Night Wing!" Impulse said as he sped around the small living space.

Before Artemis knew what was happening, someone had thrown her against the wall and had her pinned down.

"Who are you!? Oh, Artemis"

It was Night Wing. He released Artemis from the hold he had her in and said

"Well I guess you guys invited yourself inside."

"How's it going Night Wing? Did you find Wally yet?" Impulse asked

"Wait, what about Wally? What are you guys talking about?" Artemis asked, confused.

Night Wing and Bart shared a glance.

"We need to tell her." Bart insisted

"So you brought her here?"

"I HAD TO."

"Bart, what did you tell her?"

"Just show her, Night Wing."

With a sigh, Night Wing opened a door leading into a back room in his apartment. It was filled with even more pictures, but mostly of Wally, and of the Reach. There was also a small, strange looking device sitting on a desk.

"Bart has been helping me build this. We think it can bring Wally back."

"WHAT!" Artemis's voice was sharp as a titanium arrowhead. "If there was even a chance the League could bring Wally back, they would have done it."

"No, they wouldn't have." Night Wing said. The shock and anger on Artemis's face expressed volumes.

Bart stepped in and explained to Artemis,

"After Kid Flash… disappeared… The Justice League, but mainly Night Wing, began hunting down all the Reach technology and destroyed it."

Artemis nodded. She knew this much

"But then Night Wing discovered that the Reach had been experimenting with inter-dimensional travel, and that the 21 chrysalis had been a part of that project." Bart said

"We think that Kid Flash isn't dead, just in another dimension." Night Wing admitted.

The three stood silently. Artemis was processing the information as Bart and Night Wing nervously looked on.

Finally Artemis came to a conclusion

"That's insane." She said. "Wally is dead. I was there."

"But we couldn't see what was happening!" Night Wing said excitedly. "Everything was happening at super-speed, and we never found Kid's body."

"The Justice League, the Flash, they would know if this was legit or not." Artemis said.

"No, we tried to tell them, but they wouldn't listen. They just want to destroy all traces of the Reach and move on! They think we are chasing ghosts." Bart said angrily.

"This is -is crazy!" Artemis interjected

"Look," said Night Wing " Me and Bart built this, a smaller version of the chrysalis, but modified to send things to wherever Wally went."

Examining the small device, Artemis saw that it was indeed similar to Reach technology.

"Who else knows about this?" Questioned Artemis

"Just Blue Beetle." Night Wing said. "We needed his help to figure out the Reach tech."

"So this could bring Wally back?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"Yes!" Bart said determinedly. "And even if it doesn't, we'll keep looking for a way to get him back."

Artemis looked to Night Wing to confirmation. He nodded, which was what Artemis needed to see.

"Okay," she said "How do we find Wally?"

Bart grinned and yelled

"Crash! Let's do this!"

Night Wing stayed serious.

"There is one more thing we need to find Wally. An inter-dimensional scanner. One that can track Kid Flash and tell us his location."

"Where can we find something like that?" Wondered Artemis.

Night Wing became even more serious.

"LexCorp." he replied.

 **Later that week**

Artemis crawled stealthily through the vent system of the LexCorp compound.

' _I don't like resorting to thievery'_ she thought, ' _but this is for you, Wally.'_

She came out into a white laboratory, one of the many in the applied sciences divisions of LexCorp. With the popularity Lex Luthor had gained from his position on the United Nations, The Justice League would definitely face charges if Artemis was caught.

But she wouldn't be.

Dodging guards and alarms, Artemis snuck through the hallways. She had abandoned her traditional green outfit in favor of black, but she still carried her bow and quiver.

"Alright, Artemis, left here." Came Night Wing's voice from the wireless ear bud her ear. Artemis whipped around the corner and quickly fired an electrically charged arrow at the security camera, which shorted it out. A Large black door stood at the end of the hallway.

"The vault is right in front of you." Night Wing said.

Night Wing Blue Beetle and Impulse were sitting in front of the bat cave computer monitoring Artemis's progress. Bart and Jaime were eating popcorn rather noisily and making the occasional remark comparing Artemis's mission to a spy thriller.

"Where's Batman, by the way?" Bart asked "Wasn't he one of the people who was opposed to all this?"

"Yeah, but he's patrolling Gotham, at least until 12 tonight." Replied Night Wing with a slight smile.

"And if everything goes to plan, we'll be done by 10." Said Blue Beetle.

Artemis took a decoder shaped like a bat and pressed it to the door's electronic lock. It beeped and the door clicked open.

"Wow, those things are handy, hermano." said Blue Beetle to Night Wing.

Artemis was astonished at the size of the LexCorp vault. It seemingly stretched for miles, filled with all types of valuable items.

"Guys, this place is huge!" Artemis whispered fiercely as she adjusted her pair of night vision goggles.

"Row 21, box q-7" Night Wing said, and Artemis took off running. Her steps rang out through the silent dark room.

"The security shift will check on the vault in 45 seconds, you better hurry." Added Kid Flash.

"Here it is." Artemis whispered as she grabbed a box off a shelf. It contained the device she was looking for, along with several pages of notes.

"Grab them and get out of there now!" Night Wing said.

Artemis was about to leave, but she saw another box two shelves up. It was labeled Inter-Dimensional Project: KF.

' _KF?'_ Artemis thought. ' _WALLY! it's a file on Wally!'_

"Artemis, you have 15 seconds." Night Wing said.

"I think there's a file on Wally here!" Artemis whispered.

"Grab it!" Bart yelled

"No, it's too dangerous!" Blue Beetle countered.

Night Wing took control of the situation

"Artemis, there's not enough time." He said calmly.

"Yes, there is." Artemis said as she reached for the second box. Finding herself a foot or so short, she climbed up the metal shelves and grasped the box. A couple of security guards walked into the vault. They couldn't see Artemis from the entry way, but she could hear them.

"Hey!" One of them said "The door is open!"

The box was heavier than expected, and Artemis fell backwards. She gracefully jumped backwards and landed, cradling the box, but the shelf that she had been climbing flew backwards and tipped over with a loud crash.

"WHO'S THERE?" One of the security guards yelled.

"Artemis, hurry." The calm was gone from Night Wing's voice.

There was only one door into the vault, and two security guards were blocking it. One of the guards said

"Go get the others, I'll stay here and look for the intruder."

Artemis thought his voice sounded strangely familiar. Lugging the inter-dimensional tracker and KF's box, Artemis ran towards the entrance to the vault until she saw the security guard. His back was turned, but his blond hair was illuminated by his flashlight. Setting the box down and taking careful aim, Artemis shot an arrow at him. To her surprise, he turned quickly and caught it with his bare hands. Artemis panicked as she saw the security guard's face.

"Dad?" She asked out loud.

The Sports Master simply chuckled when he heard his daughter's voice.

"Breaking and entering? Armed robbery? You don't cease to make me proud, Artemis." He said mockingly.

"Guys, I need a way out of here!" She said as she grabbed the box and disappeared into the darkness.

"Since when is "su Papa" the personal security guard of Lex Luthor?" Asked Blue Beetle.

"Guys, we have bigger problems." Bart interrupted. "Batman's home early."

The bat cave entrance opened up and three boys heard the familiar roar of the batmobile.

"Why is everything so complicated?" Night Wing sighed

 **1st off- Review!**

 **2nd off-I'd like to publicly thank noa171, the only person to review so far.**

 **3rdly- I hope to have a new chapter out every week, but if I get three more reviews, I will release a chapter within 24 hours! INCENTIVE.**

 **Also, would you guys rather see more x-men evolution world or more young justice world?**


	4. Chapter 4

**HEY GUYS! Here is the next chapter.**

 **Just a reminder:**

 **I still don't own anything…**

 **(duh)**

 **Thanks to haliebri98 and noa171 and that one guest for reviewing.**

 **YOU DA BEST!**

 **Wally**

 _Previously..._

 _A yellow streak among a blaze of red, KF jammed the red-tinted sunglasses back on to Scott's face. Jabbing him in the head several times, Scott passed out partially from shock and exhaustion as well as the head trauma. Cyclops lay unconscious on the ground, Kid Flash stood panting in the middle of a desolate, ravaged clearing, and Avalanche was sitting on the ground, bleeding badly from road burns._

 _At that moment, Ororo flew into the clearing._

 _"Scott" she exclaimed. "He's over here!"_

 _Looking up she saw Kid Flash._

 _"Who are…" she began to ask him until she saw Lance._

 _Storm's eyes narrowed and began to glow_

 _"You…"_

 _"Kid, we gotta get out of here!" Lance yelled. Quickly, KF picked up the bleeding Avalanche and sped out of the clearing._

 _'We will deal with the brotherhood later Ororo.' Came The Professor's always soothing voice._

 _"But Charles, did you see that red-headed boy?"_

 _'Yes. And I will look into him as well. But now, Scott needs immediate medical attention.'_

Wally sped off, half dragging Lance

"OW OW OW OW!" Lance yelled as he was was pulled through the forest.

Realizing he was hurting Lance, Kid Flash came to a stop.

"Who was that?!" Kid Flash yelled angrily.

Before Lance could respond Kid Flash had started off on a rant,

"Who was that crazy person with the laser eye thing going on? And who was that flying lady with the glowing eyeballs? What is it with this town? I just want to find my friends and get back to Bludhaven and figure out why it's APRIL. APRIL! Last I checked it was barely June!"

"You need to slow down, punk." Said Lance angrily as he nursed his wounds.

Wally realized he had been talking with super speed. He slowed down so Lance could understand him.

"Listen, I'll be out of here by tomorrow, I just need one night to… recover… from all of this weirdness."

"Whatever man." Lance replied. Lance was starting to feel less enthusiastic about bringing home another insane speedster.

The two started walking towards the brotherhood's house once again.

"Shouldn't we do something about that laser eye guy?" Kid Flash asked as they walked.

"Nah, the other X-Men will take care of him." Avalanche replied.

"The X-Men? Who are they?"

"A bunch of hypocrites. But they're mutants like us, and they've saved our rear-ends before. So I guess they're not too bad."

"Huh.." was Wally's only reply.

' _These X-Men seem like they're a force to be reckoned with.'_ Wally thought, remembering Cyclops laser-eyes.

As they approached the brotherhoods home Lance pulled Kid Flash aside.

"Don't tell Quicksilver I said anything about the X-men." he insisted.

"Why?" Asked Kid Flash, confused.

"He's kind of in charge of the brotherhood, and he's really… well…. You'll find out."

And with that, Avalanche and Kid Flash approached a large house that looked nice, if you ignored the cracked windows and overgrown lawn.

The two teenagers entered the building and were greeted by a silver haired teen in a teal suit with super-speed. A short pale boy with long stringy hair and bulging eyes did a squat-like waddle behind him. Kid Flash was shocked to see another teenager with super speed, but he decided to play this out as cool as possible.

"Well, look what the Lance dragged in." the short toad-like boy said in a croaking voice.

"Don't make me angry, Toad." Lance said threateningly as he stomped up the stairs.

Toad only smirked and made an inhuman leap through the nearest door. Meanwhile, Quicksilver and Kid Flash had been silently sizing each other up.

"Listen, I'm Pietro, a.k.a. Quicksilver, a.k.a. the alpha here." Quicksilver said as he used super speed to zoom right up to Wally and point his finger in his face. "I'm faster than you, I'm smarter than you, and I'm the boss."

Wally fought the urge to throw a witty comeback.

' _I seriously doubt all three of those things.'_ He thought. ' _And since when has there been another speedster, here of all places? I wonder if the Flash knows about him.'_

"There are two rules you have to follow here." Quicksilver continued "I'm in charge, and if you're with us, you're not with the X-men."

Kid Flash was starting to get annoyed by this over-arrogant speedster, but held his tongue.

"The X-men?" He asked innocently.

"They are a bunch of self-righteous jerks, who are always picking on us." Pietro said "They think they're better than us too, because they got money, and a fancy mansion, and adult supervision."

Kid Flash wondered what Pietro meant by that. He was about to ask more questions when he saw a seriously hot babe walking down the stairs.

"Who's the new recruit?" She asked.

Wally felt a little guilty-as if he was betraying Artemis somehow- when he sized up the new girl.

She had long red and black hair and a goth punk vibe. A long black trench coat and a red choker added to the mysterious aura of the girl.

"So you met my brother Pietro? Was he trying to intimidate you? He always does that to the newbs." She said.

Kid Flash blinked in surprise. This girl, possibly the least rude person he had met so far, was the sister of Quicksilver.

"My name is Scarlet Witch, but my friends call me Wanda. I'll show you your room."

Said Wanda.

She waved off Quicksilver, who was looking annoyed, and lead KF up the stairs.

"I'm just staying for tonight." Wally replied.

"It's fine. What was your name again?" Wanda asked.

"Kid Flash." Wally said carefully, waiting to see if the well-known name would merit a response.

It didn't. Wanda just lead Kid Flash to a room and opened the door.

"It's a little messy…" She trailed off.

Truthfully, the room was a disaster zone. Food wrappers and dust lined the floor, the bed was crumpled and missing the pillow, even some of the furniture was tipped over.

Wally grinned. He couldn't resist showing off a little. Using his speed he zoomed about the room cleaning and arranging until it was in pristine condition.

"I can handle it." He said

Wanda looked surprised, but not shocked. She seemed like the kind of person who could roll with whatever life threw at her.

"Another mutant with super speed? I guess someone can finally give Pietro a run for his money." She muttered.

Wally was interested to know more about Pietro, seeing how there the Flash had never mentioned another teen-aged speedster to Wally.

"Why does your brother hate the X-Men so much? Is it because of that crazy laser-eyed guy?" Wally asked.

"Scott?" Said Wanda. "Not really, I mean, The X-men have always been only one part of the equation. Pietro has always had a complicated relationship with our dad. And for the longest time our father hated the X-men, but now he's saying we should join with them. You see, with all the anti-mutant protests in DC, Magneto (our dad) thinks mutants need to stick together more than ever. On top of that, Pietro's trying to declare his independence as a 'responsible adult' or something like that."

Wally wasn't sure how to respond. He hadn't expected Wanda to be quite so frank with him.

"Basically… family problems." She concluded.

Wally thought of Artemis's relationship with her dad.

"I think I get it." He said.

 **Artemis**

 _Previously_

 _Lugging the inter-dimensional tracker and KF's box, Artemis ran towards the entrance to the vault until she saw the security guard. His back was turned, but his blond hair was illuminated by his flashlight. Setting the box down and taking careful aim, Artemis shot an arrow at him. To her surprise, he turned quickly and caught it with his bare hands. Artemis panicked as she saw the security guard's face._

 _"Dad?" She asked out loud._

 _The Sports Master simply chuckled when he heard his daughter's voice._

 _"Breaking and entering? Armed robbery? You don't cease to make me proud, Artemis." He said mockingly._

 _"Guys, I need a way out of here!" She said as she grabbed the box and disappeared into the darkness._

 _"Since when is "tu Papa" the personal security guard of Lex Luthor?" Asked Blue Beetle._

 _"Guys, we have bigger problems." Bart interrupted. "Batman's home early."_

 _The bat cave entrance opened up and three boys heard the familiar roar of the batmobile._

 _"Why is everything so complicated?" Night Wing sighed._

Artemis was panting as she ran through the warehouse with the box and inter-dimensional tracker. She stopped to catch her breath and listen for signs that she was being followed.

"Why is my dad here? I can't fight him." She told Night Wing.

Static was the only reply she received.

Artemis cursed under her breath as she heard her dad's voice

"I know you're here baby girl." came Sportsmaster's voice

The box of files on Wally was getting heavier as Artemis ran deeper into the blackness.

She couldn't face her father. Not now. Now when he hadn't been there when she had needed him most. Out of breath, Artemis sank down to her knees. As she stooped over in the dark she flashed back to 10 months ago- right after Wally's death.

 _Artemis had been curled up in a corner of her room, crying all night long. She felt so alone. But she had to go train tomorrow with the team. Even though she didn't want too._

 _But Green arrow and Black Canary had insisted that locking herself up in the dark wouldn't make the pain go away. She had to face her friends eventually._

 _Artemis felt like there was nobody she could depend upon. The only person she had ever let herself trust, Wally West, was dead._

' _That's stupid,' a little voice in her head said 'It's not Wally's fault that he is dead. And what about your mom?'_

 _Artemis sighed. She had isolated herself from her team and her mom after Wally's death. Because Artemis had been raised by her father, she sometimes felt the gap between her mother and herself was too wide to branch. Strangely, as Artemis sat in the dark, she found herself wanting to see her dad again._

 _Not the brutal sportsmaster, a feared assassin, but her dad, the man who held her in his strong and arms and taught her to shoot and to fight._

 _But that man only existed in her memories._

 _As Artemis had grown up, she had seen her father as the abusive criminal he was. Artemis had left a life of crime to become a hero but felt like she had betrayed her father._

 _On top of that, she hadn't talked to him since before Wally had died. And he wasn't going to show up anytime soon. He seemed to think that Artemis had rejected him for the 'straight and narrow' path. This sent Artemis into a new round of tears._

' _But I can't face my friends in this state.' Artemis thought to herself. She got up and walked out the door. She couldn't fix things with her father, but she could try to fix things with her mother._

 _10 minutes later, Artemis had arrived at her mom's house._

" _Mom!" She cried as she embraced her paralyzed mother, who was sitting in her wheelchair._

" _I can't do this!"_

" _I know sweetie, I know." Her mother said soothingly. "Tomorrow will be hard. Because life is hard. But no matter what happens, you can't let your bad experiences define you."_

 _Artemis's mom looked her daughter in the eye._

" _You've got to keep moving Artemis. And I don't doubt that you will face whatever life throws your way. Because you are my brave, beautiful daughter." She said as tears welled up in her eyes._

 _Now both mother and daughter were crying. Until Artemis's mother began to laugh._

 _"What's so funny?" Artemis asked_

 _"I read that out of a book of inspirational 'mom quotes.' In Prison." Her mom replied_

Artemis _smiled. It was a little funny to think of her mom in prison reading inspirational 'mom quotes.' Artemis took a deep breath and wiped away a tear._

" _Thanks mom" she said_

A noise snapped Artemis back to the present. Her father was closing in on her. Artemis stood up defiantly. She was tired of feeling sorry for herself, and feeling like she owed something to her father. She was ready to move on with her life. She nocked an arrow.

"I'm ready to face you."

 **1st off- REVIEW PLEASE. maybe if I get to ten reviews I'll post the next chapter EARLY (earlier)**

 **2nd off- I did the flashback with Artemis because I wanted to show her overcoming her grief and her problems she had with her parents. I feel like this is an important part of her character and didn't want to leave it out. I love Artemis because she is a strong, tough-as-nails, female lead.**

 **3rdly- What would make this story better- romance-action-hurt/comfort-humor?Your suggestions really help.**


	5. Chapter 5

**YAYAYAYAYAYAY! MORE CHAPTERS!**

 **Artemis**

Artemis stood up boldly, nocking an arrow to her bow.

"I'm ready to face you." She called

Sportsmaster suddenly appeared a few feet in front of Artemis. She released the arrow and like before, Sportsmaster caught it.

"You'll have to do better than that, baby-" He was cut off as the explosive arrow made a beeping noise and exploded in his face.

"They always fall for that one." Artemis said with a smirk.

Sportsmaster was stunned, and his hand seemed burned, but he quickly recovered. He lunged at Artemis, but she ducked and used his momentum against him. The father and daughter engaged in intense hand-to-hand combat with the occasional arrow or knife thrown in for good measure.

"Guys!" Artemis said in between dodging punches. "Where are you?"

 **Nightwing**

Back at the batcave, Night Wing quickly muted the comm link with Artemis. He had faith that she could take care of her father on her own. Batman was a more immediate problem.

"Get out of here now!" Night Wing whispered fiercely to Impulse and Blue Beetle.

Impulse nodded and sped Blue Beetle away. In a few hurried clicks, Night Wing used the bat computer to pull up a random case to cover up the screen containing the LexCorp information. As Batman exited the batmobile, he didn't seem very surprised to see Night Wing. Then again, Batman never looked suprised.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in a completely monotone voice.

Night Wing tensed up. He had been hoping to avoid confrontation with his former mentor, who he felt could be too controlling and secretive sometimes. However, since Wally's death and Batman's refusal to investigate Night Wing's multidimensional theory, the relationship between teacher and former prodigy had grown more tense.

"I just needed to use the batcomputer." Night Wing replied, in an equally measured tone.

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"I thought you wanted nothing to do with all of 'this' anymore." Batman said, gesturing to the batcave, including Night Wing's old colorful robin suit, which was encased in a glass display.

Night Wing instantly felt defensive. He hated that suit.

"I just wanted to use the batcomputer." He said argumentatively.

Without even looking at the screen Batman replied

"You needed the bat computer to look up a case I closed years ago?"

Mentally, Night Wing cursed his own stupidity. He had clicked on a random file to cover up his monitoring Artemis while she broke into LexCorp. But he hadn't payed attention to the date of the file. Night Wing resisted the urge to look at the screen and met Batman's eyes.

"It's research for a different, more recent case." He lied smoothly.

"Which one?" Batman grilled Night Wing.

Batman was a master of deception; he knew when Night Wing was hiding something. Night Wing's mind was going a mile a minute trying to come up with a viable excuse when the bat cave alarms began to flash and go off. Outside of Wayne manor, Blue Beetle hovered in the air, firing his sonic cannon at the front yard. Impulse stood beneath him.

"Is it a good idea to destroy Bruce Wayne's front yard?" Impulse asked. "BECAUSE I THOUGHT WE DIDN'T WANT THE JUSTICE LEAGUE TO BE MAD AT US!"

"Night Wing could probably use a distraction right about now heffe!" Blue beetle shouted as he used a laser to leave a long gash in one of the perfectly trimmed bushes.

Impulse shrugged.

"If you say so." Bart sped about in front of the Wayne Manor, creating a giant cloud of dust, smoke, and dirt.

"Do you think we got Batman's attention?" Blue Beetle asked after a couple of minutes of destroying lawn ornaments.

A batarang whizzed through the air, narrowly missing Blue's head.

"Yeah, yeah I think so! RUN!" Yelled Impulse as more batarangs started flying at them through the smoke. While Impulse and Blue Beetle "distracted" Batman, in front of the Wayne manor, Night Wing reopened the comm link with Artemis.

"Artemis? What are you doing there?" He asked

"Kind of busy." She replied, kicking her dad in the face. Sportsmaster recovered quickly and soon had his daughter in a choke hold.

"Artemis, sweetie, if you wanted to return to a life of crime you could have just told me." He said.

"No thanks dad." Artemis grunted as she twisted out of the hold. Artemis took off running, barely slowing to scoop up the box of files labeled KF, and the inter-dimensional scanner. Sprinting as fast as she could, she darted out the vault door and closed it, trapping her father inside. Sportsmaster smirked and reached for his keys but realized he didn't have them. He heard a click as Artemis locked the door from the outside.

' _Not for the first time, I'm grateful I know how to pickpocket someone during a fight.'_ Artemis thought.

She secured her grip on the boxes and began to make her way out of the LexCorp facility. The number of guards was making it difficult to get out, until Artemis heard Night Wing's voice over the LexCorp P.A. system.

"All units head to the Western gate. I repeat, we have been breached at the Western Gate."

Immediately all the guards headed the opposite way Artemis was going. She smiled as she heard Night Wing's voice in her ear again.

"You would think the LexCorp P.A. system would be harder to hack."

 **Wally**

When Wally first woke up he didn't know where he was. He immediately bolted upright in bed, before remembering the events of the previous day. He had slept in his suit so he quickly stretched and headed downstairs. Most of the brotherhood members were still asleep. Kid Flash observed that they didn't have extremely demanding schedules. Kid Flash quickly found the kitchen. The metallic brother hood fridge was well stocked and in a good condition despite the rest of the house, and Wally helped himself to the frozen Waffles. As Wally stood groggily staring at the cooking waffles in the microwave, a blond teenager came down stairs.

"Morning, mate." He said cheerfully in an Australian accent.

The Australian grabbed some frozen waffles as well, and seeing that Wally was using the microwave pulled out a lighter instead. At first Kid Flash was confused as the strange teen crooned to the tiny fire and stroked the lighter, but as he did so, the fire grew larger until he was holding a large ball of fire in his hand. He then promptly set all of the frozen Waffles on fire. As the smell of smoke drifted through the house, Wally heard Wanda shout

"Pyro, cut it out!"

Pyro only laughed happily as the food burned, and when they were black and smoking, carried the giant pile of burnt waffles into his room.

' _This place is messed up.'_ Wally thought. ' _I'm getting out of here as soon as possible.'_

Just then, Wanda walked into the room.

"Listen Kid Flash, I know you're going to leave soon, but there is something we need your help with first."

Wally felt a little apprehensive as he replied

"What?"

Wanda smiled, seemingly glad that he was willing to hear her out.

"You might have noticed that here at the Brother hood, we don't get a lot of recruits." Wanda said

Wally nodded. He had barely seen six mutants at his time at the brotherhood, even though it was only two days.

"Well," Wanda continued, "That's because the X-Men have an unfair advantage. A device that lets their telepathic leader, Charles Xavier, hunt down mutants."

"I'm sorry, I guess. I don't know how this applies to me." Wally said with a shrug.

Wanda frowned

"It's called Cerebro. We need your help destroying it."

Wally blanched

"No Way!" He countered "I don't just destroy people's property or vandalize their homes for fun."

"But Wally…" Wanda said seductively "It's so terribly unfair of them." Her lip pouted a little as she grabbed Wally's arm and leaned close against him.

"No Wanda." He said firmly.

In that millisecond, Wanda's eyes went from warm and friendly to cold as steel. They flashed red, and Kid Flash found himself unable to move.

"You are going to help us." She said smoothly "Destroy Cerebro, and destroy the X-Men."

Wally nodded. Wanda smiled.

' _No…'_ Wally thought slowly. Fighting through the red fog clouding his mind he said

"That would be...wrong…I can't do that..."

Wanda sighed in exasperation. Kid Flash's moral compass was stronger than she had thought. So she smiled sweetly as a flow of red energy spread from her fingertips to encompass Wally's body.

"But you love me, Kid Flash." She said sweetly "You love me and will do anything I say."

Wally's eyes widened

"I love... "

He struggled with those words, and was about to say 'Wanda,' until a scene from his past came to his mind.

 _A beautiful blond girl dressed in a leather jacket stood leaning against the door frame. Wally smiled as she walked away. Then he turned to Doctor Strange's helmet, which was sitting on a shelf next to him._

' _Souvenir' he thought to himself._

 _Then he heard the familiar voice of Doctor Strange._

" _Find your own little Spitfire," Wally heard Doctor Strange's voice say "One who won't let you get away with nothin."_

 _Wally blushed, smiled, and ran after the blond girl._

" _Artemis!" He called_

"I love ARTEMIS!" Wally yelled pushing Wanda away.

"Wrong answer, Kid Flash!" She yelled in return.

Wanda was stunned, but she quickly recovered. She began to mentally siege Wally's mind while throwing hexes across the room at him. The microwave burst into flames spitting half cooked frozen Waffles at Kid Flash. Kid Flash dodged them but tripped over a crack that appeared in the floor. Using superspeed he got back up and dashed about the room trying to avoid flying kitchen appliances and hold off Wanda's relentless mental attacks.

"Forget her, Kid Flash! You could have been happy here with me. I can make you happy." Wanda said

The refrigerator exploded right behind Wally, startling him. Wanda's powers reached out and took hold of Kid Flash's mind.

"You will submit to me…" she groaned as their minds were locked in combat.

"NEVER!" wally screamed.

Quicksilver suddenly appeared in the kitchen and whacked Kid Flash in the back of the head with a serving Flash fell over unconscious.

Toad hopped down the stairs as well, only to see a wrecked kitchen and Kid Flash lying unconscious.

"Man!" He said " You guys destroyed the kitchen and it isn't even nine o'clock!"

Quiksilver only glared at Wanda and said

"Do you have him under control? We'll need two speedsters for this plan to work."

"Yeah, he'll do exactly what I want him too when he wakes up." Wanda replied, her eyes pulsing red.

 **At the X-Mansion**

The Professor was perplexed by this new "mutant" Storm had described. He had not sensed any new mutant activity in the area, not even with Cerebro.

' _Perhaps I was too distracted dealing with Scott and Jean'_ the professor thought to himself. At that moment, Beast entered the room.

"How is Scott?" The professor asked.

"Not good." Beast replied. "I had to sedate him before he hurt anybody or even himself."

The professor sighed. These next few months were not going to be easy for Scott, or any of the X-men.

Kitty, Kurt and Rogue all walked along the grounds of the Xavier Institute.

"There's somthin' about the fresh air." Rogue remarked to break the solemn silence.

Normally, when she was bothered by something this serious, Rogue preferred to be alone. But this time, she knew that Kitty and Kurt could understand her. All three of them had been on the jet when Jean had died. As if reading Rogue's mind, Kitty shuddered and said,

"I can't stand to look at the jet any more. Or at least what's left of it."

Without warning, she broke into tears. It seemed that Kitty hadn't had a full hour when she wasn't crying in the last three days. Kurt patted her on the back

"It is O.K. Keety" he said calmingly.

"No, it's not!" Kitty shoved her furry friend aside and ran off, phasing through trees and shrubs as she went.

Sensing he was about to port, Rogue grabbed Kurt's arm.

"Trust me, she needs some alone time." She said.

 **1st off- REVIEW PLEASE!**

 **2nd off- I expanded Wanda's powers a little bit. In addition to her having the power of manipulating probability through casting hexes, I gave her 'mind control' type powers. Not necessarily psychic or telepathic, but similar. Like what she had in the second avenger's movie, where she played with people's minds.**

' _ **If I had mental powers I would definitely kidnap Kid Flash and keep him forever.**_

 _ **He's so hot…**_

 _ **WAIT… Did I just type that? UHHH MOVING ON!'**_

 **3rdly- If I get some more reviews, I will work extra hard to post chapters extra fast!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ch 6 is officially here!**

 **Jean**

Jean was supposed to be dead. She knew that. She also knew that she was thinking, so she obviously wasn't dead. But there was cold blackness everywhere, and she couldn't move. She felt detached from reality, as if she was floating in some in-between place devoid of any other life except hers.

' _Is this heaven or hell?'_ She wondered.

Jean hadn't been a very religious person, and before the jet had crashed, she hadn't had a lot of time to reflect on her life. She was busy trying to save her friends.

' _My friends!'_ Jean gasped ' _Professor!'_ She called mentally.

There was no response. Jean still didn't understand how she could be conscious. She REMEMBERED dying.

It had hurt a lot, and then, nothing. Until now.

An idea occurred to Jean, An idea both wonderful and terrible at the same time. The Phoenix Force. Jean had used the Phoenix Force to save her friends, and now it was trying to save her by bringing her back to life.

' _That's good.'_ Jean thought ' _I get a chance at life again. But that's bad.'_ She continued ' _Because it means that the Phoenix force will overtake my body and use me to hurt my friends and loved ones.'_

Jean felt the spark of the Phoenix burning within her chest. It had been so small before that she hadn't noticed it. Now, however, the spark was growing into a flame. Jean didn't try to suppress it. She let it burn and consume her until she was ready to rise from the ashes. But she kept one thing in mind.

' _As soon as I awake, I have to get as far away from my friends as possible. For their own sakes, and mine.'_

 **Artemis**

The small group of teens gathered around Night Wing in his apartment as he explained their mission.

"Artemis will go through when the portal opens, and grab Wally. Bring him back immediately. Blue, Impulse, and I will stay here, in case anything happens and we need to send someone to rescue you. If something goes wrong and you don't come back within six hours, we will call the League. Any questions?"

The other three teens, Blue Beetle, Artemis, and Impulse, immediately raised their hands. Night Wing called on Artemis first.

"What happened to that box of files about Wally?" she asked

"It didn't tell us anything about Wally that we didn't already know- just the theory that he's trapped in some other dimension."

Artemis frowned "So the box nearly got me killed for nothing."

"Not exactly." Blue Beetle said. "It shows us that LexCorp knows about the inter-dimensional possibilities of Reach tech as well. It also shows us that they are looking for a way to harness it. That's what the notes suggested anyway."

"All the more reason to get Wally back as soon as we can, so we can destroy the device we built and keep it out of Luther's hands." Night Wing said.

Through the entire conversation Impulse had been rapidly waving his hand in the air like an over excited school-girl. Night Wing sighed.

"Yes Impulse?" He asked dryly.

"Yeah, how do we know where Wally is?" He asked

"Well, the scanner we took from LexCorp actually worked pretty well. It was able to show us large amounts of the speed force coming from another dimension; probably Wally." Night Wing explained.

"Another dimension? So the multi-verse does exist?" Artemis asked.

"The device that we built should take us to wherever Wally is when we activate it, but..." Blue Beetle left off the end of his sentence.

"But what?" Impulse was eager to know.

"There is a chance…" Blue said slowly "That traveling to another dimension would rip a hole in the fabric of space and time that is irreparable."

The silence in the Night Wing's apartment was tangible. Artemis broke it

"We don't know what will happen. We don't know what could be waiting for me over there. But if there is even the tiniest chance that Wally is alive… I'm willing to take it." She said.

The others nodded in agreement. Honestly, Artemis was relieved that they agreed with her. She was secretly afraid their better judgement would win out, and she would have to rescue Wally against their will. Impulse raised his hand again. Night Wing rolled his eyes. He knew this conversation was going to happen eventually.

' _I might as well get this over with.'_ He thought.

Impulse spoke up tentatively

"Night Wing... can I-"

"No." Night Wing cut him off

"But if Artemis is-"

"No."

I'm Wally's friend too-"

"No."

"...Well what if-"

"No Bart, you aren't going."

Bart groaned and crossed his arms

"You guys are soooo mode." He whined.

Artemis couldn't help smiling. With the chance of actually getting Wally back, she had felt better than she had for the entire year. She was glad Night Wing was letting her be the one to find Wally.

' _He knows how much this means to me.'_ Artemis reflected as she grabbed her familiar gear. Under her street clothes she wore her green suit.

' _Hopefully people won't think it's weird to carry around a bow, wherever I end up.'_ Artemis thought to herself. Blue Beetle walked up to Artemis and gave her a small round device that looked like a button.

"The interdimensional scanner will pick this up, and we can open a portal directly to it once it's activated." He said. He took a deep breath and on a deeper note added "If anyone can find him, I know you can."

"Thanks, that means a lot, Blue." Artemis replied.

Impulse sped up to the two of them.

"You better bring him back fast." He said "And don't make me go in there after you!"

Artemis was a little surprised to see tears welling up in Bart's eyes. He wrapped Artemis in a bear hug.

"Geez, guys, it's not like I'm going off to die. Right?" She tried to make it sound like a joke, but the way the guys simply stared back at her made her skin crawl.

"Let's do this." She said.

Night Wing nodded and pressed a few buttons on the device that he had worked so hard to construct. The four of them gasped as a glowing doorway appeared in the middle of Night Wing's living room. Artemis's happiness at the prospect of seeing Wally had outweighed her nervousness- up to this point. She felt her heartbeat speed up in suspense.

' _It's just a simple rescue mission.'_ She told herself ' _Just like popping over to the grocery store to pick up a box of doughnuts. Just heading over to the inter-dimensional grocery mart to pick up a box of Wally shaped doughnuts.'_

Artemis walked in front of the glowing door, gripping her bow until her knuckles turned white. Then, out of nowhere, Sportsmaster crashed through the window, targeting Night Wing first and knocking him out with punch to the back of his head. The other three teens had been a little distracted by the glowing door but quickly jumped into action. Artemis fired and arrow at Sportsmaster who dodged it. Impulse let loose a barrage of punches at Sportsmaster, but the older man easily overpowered the smaller teen, pushing him roughly away. Blue Beetle didn't fire any sonic or laser weapons for fear of bringing down the apartment complex, but his hands morphed into blue swords which he began to swing at Sportmaster.

"How did he find us?" Artemis yelled as she rushed to Night Wing's side.

"It doesn't matter. Find Wally!" Blue Beetle responded in between jabs and punches.

Without hesitating Artemis leaped through the glowing door and disappeared. Despite numbers being against him, Sportsmaster was holding his own against the younger heroes.

"Aww man!" Impulse yelled as he ducked a coffee table that flew across the room at him,"Night Wing's gonna be ticked when he wakes up and realized we destroyed his house!"

Despite their fighting prowess, Blue Beetle and Impulse were quickly cornered between the glowing portal and their opponent. Sportsmaster stood triumphantly with a gun pointed at unconscious Night Wing's head.

"Give me what you stole, or you lose another friend." Sportsmaster said menacingly.

 **Wally**

Wally was partially aware of what he was doing. He was standing outside the gates of the Xavier Institute, or as all of the mutants called it, the X-Mansion.

' _Why?'_ Wally thought. ' _Why am I here?'_

As soon as a small seed of doubt sprouted in Wally's mind, Wanda's voice crushed it

' _Destroy Cerebro'_ It said softly.

Wally was aware of the rest of the brotherhood mutants pass by him and start openly attacking the X-Mansion.

Lance caused a huge earthquake to knock the gate over, while Quicksilver used his superspeed to take out a few of the automated defenses. By then, The X-Men had come outside, geared up for a fight. Soon, the X-men were fighting the Brotherhood, except for Wanda who had hung back with Kid Flash. Wolverine took on Blob with Nightcrawler, Avalanche was attacked by Shadowcat, Toad teased Rogue as he stayed constantly beyond her reach, Pyro distracted Iceman, and various other match-ups caused havoc on the front lawn.

"Go now!" Wanda commanded Kid Flash "While all of the X-Men are distracted, sneak in through the back of the Mansion and destroy Cerebro."

KF sped off, avoiding the fighting X-Men as he looked for a way to get into the Mansion. He easily avoided the defense systems and saw an open window on the second story. He used his superspeed to run straight up the wall and through the window. Once inside the X-Mansion he stopped, observing his surroundings. The mansion was huge and the sounds of the battle could be heard from outside.

Kid Flash covered most of the mansion in a few seconds, ignoring the students and teachers that had remained inside. However, when Kid Flash could not find a device similar to what Wanda described to him, he slowed down. As he walked through a room, he saw two kids come out from a secret passage hidden behind a bookshelf. KF quickly ducked behind a desk and watched as the two kids passed by.

"What's happening, Sam?" One girl asked

"I don't know, Amara, but I'm heading towards the sound of the fighting!" the boy yelled in reply as the two ran through a nearby door.

Kid Flash zoomed over to the bookshelf and examined it. A secret passage. He entered and continued to scout the lower levels. These bottom levels were colder and more metallic; they weren't as well furnished and lacked the homey feel of the ground floor and upper stories. He quickly found several rooms of interest. One was labeled 'Danger Room.' It appeared to be some sort of training facility. The next was a morgue like room. In one of the freezers, there lay a red-head in a spandex suit, much like the superhero costumes he had seen the other X-Men wearing. Another med-bay type room held the man that Kid Flash had fought earlier. Cyclops lay bandaged and unconscious on the table with an IV in his arm. The final room was locked more tightly than the others. It required an eye scan to get inside. Kid Fash shrugged. He knew this might happen because Wanda had told him. Kid Flash zoomed through the house again until he found what he was looking for. An elderly bald man in a wheelchair. Professor X was deep in thought, two fingers on each hand pressed against his temples as he directed the battle telepathically. The Professor looked startled as he sensed Wally's presence.

"You are the boy Ororo spoke of." He said in a surprised voice.

Instantly the Professor attempted to mentally stop Kid Flash, but was unable because of the strong presence that Wanda had established there. The professor frowned, realizing he was unable to protect himself.

' _Logan'_ he called telepathically 'I _may require your help soon.'_

The professor began to stall Kid Flash through conversation.

"You obviously are under the influence of Ms. Maximoff, so I can assume that you are doing this against your own will. We don't want to hurt you."

Kid Flash felt confused by this strange bald man. Wanda and Pietro had portrayed him as hypocritical and menacing, not concerned or fatherly. Kid Flash struggled to form coherent words

"I… just…"

"That's it! Fight back!" The Professor cheered Wally on.

Just then, Wolverine ran into the room growling and launched himself at the speedy red-head, causing Kid Flash to lose his mental battle and fall subject to Wanda's power once more. KF dodged Wolverine easily, grabbed the professor, and carried him down to where Cerebro was located. At the eye scanner he forced the elderly man to unlock the large X shaped doors. As Kid Flash began to destroy Cerebro, the professor was unable to intervene without his wheelchair to move himself.

' _Logan, help!'_ The professor communicated mentally as he lay on the floor behind Kid Flash.

Logan quickly made his way down to Cerebro and was shocked to see the professor lying helpless on the floor, and the red-headed teen dressed in yellow destroying Cerebro. Wolverine was even more confused when a glowing rectangle appeared in front of the speedster. Kid Flash jumped back confused. A beautiful blond girl stepped through and was instantly on alert, as if she had just left a fight. Kid Flash froze, confusion apparent on his face.

Artemis, saw Kid Flash and beamed; ignoring the destruction around her she yelled,

"Wally! You're alive!"

 **1st off- Please review! Suggestions, comments, and critiques all appreciated.**

 **2nd off- AAAAAAWWWW! Wally and Artemis finally reunite! But will Wally remember Artemis? What will Logan and Xavier think? What about the battle scene raging outside the Mansion? And Jean! Don't forget Jean! How will she play into this already over-complicated situation? What will Blue, Night Wing and Impulse do?**

 **3rdly- sorry this chapter is a little long! Thanks for bearing with me.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Jean**

The phoenix was awake. It thrashed around in the freezer, easily freeing itself with a burst of psychic fire. Jean felt power building in her body, seeking to find its way out, probably in a huge explosion of some sort. She wasn't sure that she could get far away from her friends fast enough.

Then she sensed a door- a portal of some type. One that lead far away from her friends. Jean bolted towards it, leaving trails of mental fire on the walls as she flew past them. The door seemed to be located in the same room as Cerebro. Jean flew towards it, not stopping, not even for the professor.

She knew she had to get out of the mansion soon, before she destroyed it. A glowing rectangle stood in the middle of the heap of rubble that used to be Cerebro. A redhead stood staring at a blond girl in the middle of it all. Logan watched bewildered and angry. With her telepathic powers heightened by the Phoenix Force, Jean could feel the emotion and thought of every person standing on the grounds of Xavier's Institute. Jean heard the professor say her name mentally before she shot through the portal

' _JEAN!'_ He yelled at her.

Jean came out in a living room of some kind, but she didn't stop. She flew straight through the already broken glass window and into the open sky where she immediately burst into a huge ball of cosmic fire.

"AHHHH!" She gasped as waves of power exploded from her body.

 **Wally**

 _previously_

 _Logan quickly made his way down to Cerebro and was shocked to see the professor lying helpless on the floor, and the red-headed teen dressed in yellow destroying Cerebro with his superspeed. Wolverine was even more confused when a glowing rectangle appeared in front of the speedster. Kid Flash jumped back confused. A beautiful blond girl stepped through and was instantly on alert, as if she had just left a fight. Kid Flash froze, confusion apparent on his face._

 _Artemis, saw Kid Flash and beamed; ignoring the destruction around her she yelled,_

" _Wally! You're alive!"_

The fog in Kid Flash's mind began to clear. His eyes locked on to Artemis as the world seemed to slow down around him. He barely noticed when the redheaded girl he had seen earlier in the morgue flew overhead and vanished into the portal. Instead Kid Flash said a single word

"Artemis?"

and in that instant any remaining trace of Wanda's power vanished. Wally ran to embrace Artemis, lifting her off her feet as he wrapped her into a huge hug. The two sank down to the floor, both of them crying tears of pure joy and not caring if strangers were watching. Then they heard the sounds of the other X-Men looking for Wolverine and the Professor. Logan was confused and in shock after seeing Jean alive again.

Artemis remembered why she was there. Standing up she said

"Hurry Wally, we have to go back through the portal" she stopped abruptly when she realized the portal was gone. "What's happened? Why-"

Artemis was cut off again, but by a different source: Charles Xavier. Once the fog surrounding Kid Flash's mind had completely cleared, Professor X had used his telepathic powers to freeze Kid Flash and Artemis, preventing them from speeding off or opening another portal. The other X-Men filtered down to Cerebro disheveled from the battle and confused by the scene that met them.

Beast brought the professor his wheelchair and gasped when he saw the rubble as well as the two teenagers, Artemis and Kid Flash, frozen like statues by the Professor.

"What happened here, Charles?" The Beast asked

"I'm not sure." The professor answered, thinking of Jeans sudden rebirth and disappearance.

' _But I'm going to find out.'_ He thought determinedly.

 **Impulse**

 _Previously_

 _Despite their fighting prowess, Blue Beetle and Impulse were quickly cornered between the glowing portal, and their opponent. Sportsmaster stood triumphantly with a gun pointed at unconscious Night Wing's head._

" _Give me what you stole, or you lose another friend." Sportsmaster said menacingly._

"How did you find us?" Impulse yelled angrily, all too aware of the glowing portal at his back.

Sportsmaster chuckled.

"You seriously think Lex Luther couldn't track his own invention?" he asked.

Realization dawned on Blue Beetle and Impulse.

Something shot out of the portal that stood behind them. Impulse watched with his super-speed as a flaming red-headed girl flew out of the portal. Not "flaming" as in attractive (although the girl was decidedly pretty), but flaming as in actually on fire. Impulse also observed that the girl looked in pain. He didn't have much time to process more than that, because the girl flew through Night Wing's window and into the sky, ignoring the people in the apartment. Sportsmaster had been decidedly unprepared for a fiery woman to come flying out of the portal, so Bart took his chance to rush himself, Blue Beetle and Night Wing out of there.

When they were only a few blocks away, a huge explosion took place.

"AHHHH!" The red-headed girl screamed in agony.

Like a mini nuclear explosion, a mushroom cloud appeared above the apartment building.

Impulse and Blue Beetle stood in awe as they watched the explosion dissipate, leaving behind smoke, rubble, and flames. "Come on!" He yelled to Blue Beetle, racing back to the epicenter of the explosion.

Nearly an entire block was crumbling or on fire.

The girl was gone.

The portal was closed.

The Reach technology was not destroyed, but gone, along with Sportsmaster.

' _He must have survived the explosion and taken the portal device'_ Impulse thought.

Impulse's hero instincts kicked in.

"There are people in the burning buildings!" he yelled as he began racing people out of the rubble and fires.

Blue Beetle quickly left unconscious Night Wing and helped rescue people from the burning buildings.

Bart didn't know how he was going to explain this one to the league. As he stood in the midst of what used to be the apartment building he heard a little girl crying. He had quickly picked her up and deposited her far away from the flames and ash. Her arm was badly bleeding and twisted at a horrible angle.

"Mommy!" She wailed.

' _What have we done?'_ Impulse thought to himself.

A few hours later, the fires had been put out and the rubble stabilized. Miraculously no one had died, but over two dozen people had been seriously injured, and many more had lost everything in the explosion that had destroyed the apartment building and set the surrounding neighborhood on fire.

The Justice League had responded quickly, and so had the media. Night Wing, Impulse, and Blue Beetle sat in solemn silence on the watchtower (they had been sent there as soon as the Justice League had discovered their involvement). The news was playing on a monitor. On the screen, Superman stood in the background talking to the city police.

"...The number of causualties is unconfirmed. We don't know if this is an act of terrorism or super-villainy, but the Justice League's speedy reaction does bring up questions-"

Batman turned the screen off with a click. His face practically bled disappointment and anger, which scared Night Wing because he knew how hard Batman worked to keep his emotions under control. The group stood in awkward silence until The Flash entered the room and nodded to Batman.

Batman uttered a single word.

"Explain."

Night Wing took a deep breath, but it was Impulse that spoke up.

"We were trying to get Wally back, and it all sort-of went wrong."

"Wrong!?" The flash asked in sarcastic anger "WRONG?! You burned down a block!"

Those words cut deep. This had happened because Impulse had refused to accept the fact that Wally was dead. Wally's death had been partially his fault (after all, he was the one who had messed with the timeline), and now he had this on his conscience. Bart didn't try to answer again, he was too broken inside.

Now Night Wing spoke up.

"We knew there was a chance Wally was alive so we took a risk. I knew there was a chance something could go wrong when I asked Blue to build the device. I knew there was a chance something could go wrong when I asked Artemis to go through the portal. It's not any different from any of the chances that you would take with-"

"Artemis was involved too?" The flash asked incredulously. "Does Green Arrow know?"

Night Wing bit his lip and glared at Impulse and Blue Beetle. He had woken up after the Justice League had transported the three teens to the watchtower, so he had a few gaps in his memory. Impulse sighed and shook his head.

"She wanted to be the one that went to find Wally."

"How did you even know this portal device would work?" The Flash asked

"Well, LexCorp had some files that we... um borrowed... that said that-" Blue Beetle said nervously

"You got LexCorp involved?" Batman said in a condescending tone. "Tell us exactly what happened."

Impulse explained, about the Reach technology, the LexCorp break-in, The Portal opening, Artemis going through, and Sportsmaster tracking them down. He continued about how Artemis went through the portal, the strange flaming woman came out of the portal, the explosion, and how the portal disappeared.

Partially through the story, Superman, Wonder woman, and a few other league members entered the watchtower and listened intently to Impulse's narrative. At the end he presented them with the charred remains of the files about Kid Flash that they had stolen from LexCorp. Sportsmaster had not taken those, and Impulse had been able to scavenge their remains in the rubble.

Neither Batman nor The Flash had interrupted the entire time. When he finished the Flash was the first one to react.

"So Artemis is stranded in another dimension, you let someone, SOMETHING, of tremendous power into our universe, and Lex Luther has a fully functioning inter-dimensional portal device that you kids built?" Flash asked.

"You forgot the fact that they burned down half the city." Superman added.

"We need to discuss appropriate… discipline." Batman said as he ushered the Justice League into a separate room. Soon a heated argument had broke out between the league members.

"They need to face Justice." Superman said

"These unfortunate events are not completely their fault, but are definitely consequences of their actions." Wonder Woman agreed.

"If they hadn't reacted as quickly as they had, people would've died!" Flash interjected

"They are the ones that caused the danger!" Wonder Woman shot back.

"So how do we punish them? Send them to prison? Ground them?" Flash asked sarcastically.

"If we have to." Superman said unflinchingly.

"Well it's easy for you to say- it's not like we're talking about super girl!" The Flash yelled at Superman.

"Your judgement is clouded Barry!" Wonder woman added

"THEY WERE TRYING TO SAVE WALLY!" The Flash practically screamed "And when we brushed them off they felt like they had to save Wally on their own!" His voice cracked with emotion. The thought that Wally was still alive, but had been stranded in another dimension for a year, hit him the hardest.

"We can't let them off free after what they have done." Wonder Woman parried.

"So we don't." Batman said calmly.

The arguments ceased while the other members of the League stopped to look at Batman.

"We make them atone for their mistakes by fixing them."

"Them working on their own is what caused this mess." Superman replied.

"So we give them guidance. We help them fix this problem they have created. And then we ground them." Batman said.

Flash looked relieved.

Wonder Woman looked argumentative.

Superman looked satisfied.

The rest of the League nodded in agreement.

 **1st off- REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

 **2nd off- wow! So much happened in the last two chapters-it was so hard to write. I hope I balanced the action and the dialogue well.**

 **TO RECAP**

 **-Artemis and Wally have been captured by the X-Men**

 **-The brotherhood succeeded in their plan to destroy Cerebro**

 **-Impulse, Nightwing and Blue Beetle are in BIG trouble with the league, but they are getting a second chance**

 **-Sportsmaster has disappeared with the portal device**

 **-Jean feeling is very alone**


	8. Chapter 7 and one half

**Hey guys, this is just a short chapter detailing what the super villains have been up to. This is a test run to see if I want to do more "short" chapters like this. Enjoy!**

 **Magneto**

Quicksilver limped into the brotherhood's living room, grumbling about the X-Men. Toad was collapsed on the couch with an ice-pack on his head.

"Man, Rogue packs a punch!" He whined.

The other mutants were in their rooms attending their various injuries.

"If only we'd had Kid Flash help us with the frontal assault, we might have overpowered them this time." Quicksilver mused.

"Dude, we lost, like we always do. By the Way, where's Kid Flash?" Toad asked

At that moment, a presence darkened the brotherhood's doorway.

"That's not what I like to hear." The tall figure said as sunlight glinted off his metallic armor.

"M-Magneto!" Toad stuttered in fear. "Um, I'm just going to leave…" Toad quickly hopped off the couch and left groaning in over-exaggerated pain with every jump.

Quicksilver turned on his father.

"Now you show up?" He asked with venom in his voice.

Magneto didn't respond. He wanted to see how his son would handle defeat.

"You practically abandon us after apocalypse's defeat so you can spend all of your time at the X-Mansion, catching up with your old buddy Charles Xavier. Then, out of nowhere, you tell us we need to destroy Cerebro! So we do, but we get our rear-ends handed to us in the process. And apparently, you don't even care enough to help us!" Quicksilver finished his rant and was panting with rage.

Magneto narrowed his eyes and after a moment responded

"I do what I do for all of mutantkind. I can't have the extra responsibility of babysitting the brotherhood."

"Sure. thanks for caring dad." Quicksilver said sarcastically

"Wanda said there was another mutant. A speedster who helped you destroy Cerebro. Where is he?" Magneto asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, so you're talking to Wanda now, but not me? Kid Flash didn't want to help us. Wanda hypnotized him and I haven't seen him since the battle. I'm pretty sure he's either skipped town or is with the X-Men by now." Quicksilver reported.

"I have considerable influence with Xavier." Said Magneto, "He trusts me since I have started rebuilding our 'friendship.' He even let's me talk to a few of the students. Perhaps I will use this influence to get Kid Flash on your side again."

"Whatever." Quicksilver said with a rebellious roll of his eyes.

"If word gets to the X-Men that I planned this attack, my plan will fail. Remember to keep up pretenses with the rest of the team. For all they know, I have made peace with the X-Men, and want you to do the same. You continue to pretend to be angry at my involvement with them." Magneto commanded.

"I'm NOT pretending." Quicksilver said as he limped up to his room.

With that Magneto turned and exited the brotherhood of mutants.

' _I will pay Xavier a visit._ ' He thought.

 **At the X-Mansion**

Charles Xavier had told Wolverine and Beast to put the speedy yellow teenager and the blond girl in seperate rooms (and he had them restrained, just to be safe). Beast had then sedated both of them to knock them out for a couple hours. The professor sat in his wheel chair next to the unconscious speedster, probing his mind.

The boy's thoughts were confused. Surely an after-effect of Wanda's powers. Charles did not sense hostility, but resistance to the probing was inevitable. The professor was able to get two names, Wally West, a.k.a. Kid Flash. The professor also noticed that Wally wore a mask, goggles, and a lightning bolt insignia on his chest.

Wally's body jerked in response to the mental stimulation. With a start Charles realized that Wally had training in mental resistance to telepaths before.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in, Erik." The Professor called.

Magneto entered and addressed his old friend.

"I heard that the brotherhood attacked you. Sorry about that, but they don't exactly listen to me anymore. Is this their newest recruit?"

"Yes, but I don't think he attacked us willingly." Charles said with a raised eyebrow.

"Wanda." Magneto offered apologetically

Charles tried to scan Magneto's mind, but was unable to read his thoughts, despite the fact that Magneto was not wearing his helmet. Charles could only pick up a few emotions and thoughts- worry about the students and his children, a general curiosity about this new speedster. Charles brows furrowed. It was as if Charles could only pick up what Magneto wanted him to know.

"Charles, as your friend, I asked you to stay out of my mind. And i'm sorry about Jean. You have my sincerest condolences." Magento said

Xavier stiffened

"Of course. How did you hear about Jean?" Charles quickly said.

Magneto waved Xavier off and continued

"One of the younger students mentioned it. A plane crash, correct?"

Charles sighed. He could tell that Magneto was genuinely sad about Jean's death.

"Yes. " he said quietly.

Magneto turned and opened the door.

"I can tell this has been hard on you Charles." He said gently "I'll stop by later this week, to see how everyone else is holding up."

And with that, Magneto left Charles in thought.

' _I must find out more about how Magneto is resisting my telepathy,'_ Xavier thought. ' _but for now I must focus on finding out who Wally West is. And finding out what happened to Jean.'_ Charles prioritized his problems.

Magneto walked down the hallway and was met by Wolverine. With a growl, Wolverine escorted Magneto to the door, and promptly slammed it. Beast walked by.

"Did Erik stop by again?" Beast asked "Perhaps he really has had a change of heart."

Wolverine just growled and replied

"I don't trust'im. Chuck can't read his thoughts, and that spells trouble. Magneto is up to something, and we need to be ready for when he strikes."

 **1st off- Review!**

 **2st off- So did you like the shorter chapter? If so, I might do one for Lex Luthor and Sportsmaster, or for some of the X-men or Young Justice crew.**


	9. Chapter 8

**The world could always use a little more X-Men.**

 **Wally**

Once again, Wally didn't know where he was when he woke up. He was sitting on a bed in a white medical room. He tried to sit up but he was restrained. Immediately he panicked and attempted to vibrate out of the straps.

"Artemis!" He yelled

' _Calm down Wally.'_ A voice in his head said.

Wally felt a calming influence wash over his mind. He sat back in bed.

Wally looked up to see Charles Xavier sitting across the room from him. It all came back to Wally, everything that he had done in the past 48 hours.

"Oooohhh, man, I am sooo sorry about all of that." He quickly apologized."Wait, did you read my mind? How did you know who I am?"

Xavier only stared at him.

Now Wally was angry. M'gann was the only telepath he wanted in his head.

"Total invasion of privacy, dude." Wally said accusingly.

"Well, seeing how you broke into my home, attacked me, and destroyed Cerebro, I would assume you understand 'invading' people's privacy better than I do…" The Professor stated pointedly.

Wally shut his big mouth. Xavier was right; Wally was guilty of attacking the X-Men. And now, Wally wasn't sure what the X-men would do to him and Artemis as a result.

"Where's Artemis?" Wally asked.

"We are detaining her seperately, she has not been harmed." The professor replied quickly.

Wally didn't know what to do. He didn't want to run away from this problem- it was his responsibility after all. He also didn't want Artemis to get involved.

"Listen, she didn't do anything! Let her go!" Wally begged "Read my mind and you'll know it's the truth."

The professor shook his head.

"I believe you Wally, but we can't just let either of you go."

As Wally deflated in defeat, Xavier wheeled out of the room. Outside he was met by Beast and Wolverine.

"Tell me he's refused to give up any information so I can go in there and mess with him!" Wolverine said cracking his adamantium knuckles.

"Is Magneto behind it?" Beast asked "We shouldn't have let him get so close to us after Apocalypse's defeat."

Charles shook his head.

"The boy's thoughts are jumbled and confused. His thought process takes place at an accelerated rate, making it hard for me to focus on him. He only has half the story anyway. There seems to be a large amount of memory loss. Nearly a year's worth." He said.

"Half the story?" Wolverine asked

"Yes. Although I believe it wasn't the boy's intentions to harm us, there are other forces at work that we do not yet understand." Xavier said

"Let's talk to the girl now. Maybe she can explain a little to us" Beast suggested.

As Wolverine, Beast and the Professor walked into the room holding Artemis, the first thing they noticed was that she was gone. The straps on the bed had been cut through and the sheets were rumpled.

Suddenly Wolverine felt a cold prick on the back of his neck.

"Don't move." Came Artemis's voice.

Wolverine smiled a small, cruel smile. He had been itching for a fight all day.

As fast as lightning he turned around and snapped the arrow that Artemis was holding at his neck in half. Surprised, Artemis leaped backwards and drew a dagger from underneath her shirt. Wolverines claws slid out, but Artemis didn't falter. Claws embedded in people's hands wasn't the strangest thing she had seen. Not as strange as Beast, who had fierce looking animalistic features and was covered in blue hair.

Artemis and Wolverine began a dangerous twisting metallic dance. Logan's claws cut through Artemis dagger like warm butter, but Artemis had seemingly pulled another arrow out of thin air. She didn't have her bow, but she could do serious damage with the sharp point. The damage was temporary though, because every time Artemis cut Wolverine, he healed rapidly.

"Charles, do something!" The Beast said.

"No, I want to see the girl in action. Besides, I thought you said you disarmed her." Charles replied.

"I thought I did." Beast said in a surprised voice as various arrows and knives flew across the room at Wolverine.

Wolverine was more experienced and stronger with a healing factor to boot. Charles did notice however, that Artemis lasted longer than most new recruits who had mutant powers. Wolverine eventually had Artemis pinned against the wall.

"If you touched Wally I swear I'll-" Artemis was cut off.

"She has spunk. I like this one better, Chuck." Logan said, then addressing Artemis he continued "Listen kid, we didn't hurt your boyfriend, he attacked us."

With that he released Artemis who was taken back by Logan's statement. Artemis didn't fight back against him this time. Instead she stated bluntly

"Kid Flash would never attack you unless he had a reason."

Charles nodded and replied

"We believe you. But Wally was under the influence of Wanda Maximoff, a mutant whose powers include a form of hypnotism. The X-Men don't blame you for the destruction he wrought."

"Then let us leave." Artemis said.

"But all this doesn't change the fact that he attacked us." Wolverine scoffed.

"I'm sorry, Artemis, but you see, we have lost someone too. A girl named Jean. We believe that she flew through the… portal… you opened and is trapped in your world." Charles Xavier said.

Beast looked confused. Only Logan, Xavier, Wally and Artemis had seen Jean alive again.

' _Jean's alive?'_ Beast thought in surprise

' _Yes. But she flew through the portal that Artemis opened.'_ Charles confirmed

 _'We have to get her back!'_

 _'We will.'_

Artemis found it suspicious that this bald disabled man knew so much about the portal.

' _Bald and disabled?'_ The professor said telepathically ' _That's really the first thing that you notice?'_

' _A telepath. I should've known.'_ Artemis replied mentally, thinking of M'gann.

' _I see. You've had past experiences with telepaths. You've worked with one before.'_ The professor noticed

Artemis nodded. She decided the best way to gain their trust was to tell them everything willingly.

"About a year ago, Wally almost died trying to stop an alien device from destroying the Earth. When the smoke cleared, we thought he had been vaporized, or absorbed by the alien machine, but he hadn't, he had been transported here. Another dimension. A few of my friends figured this out. So we worked together to recreate the device that brought him here, but modified for travel instead of world destruction. We were attacked, but I still came through and the first thing I saw was Wally. I remember running to him, and something on fire flying over my head, and then I woke up here."

"Aliens? Interdimensional travel? Do you think we're crazy?" Wolverine asked gruffly.

"She is telling the truth." Xavier confirmed.

"Perhaps she believes she is telling the truth. It could be another ploy by the Maximoff twins." The Beast suggested.

"No." Xavier said. "There is no memory in this girl's mind of mutants, or even of the X-Men. Nothing that suggests she has ever set foot in our world before."

Beast was instantly excited at the prospect of inter-dimensional travel.

"How did you do it?" He asked

"Listen if you give me back the rest of my stuff I'll show you. That way, you can find your friend, and I can return home with Wally. How long was I out?" Artemis asked

"A couple hours." Wolverine replied.

"Good. There's still time to get back. I suggest you find a couple people who are willing to come look for your friend in my dimension." Artemis said.

The professor nodded.

"We'll put to together a team. Take Artemis to get her things, Wally included." The professor instructed Beast.

The beast agreed and lead Artemis out of the room.

"Chuck, there's one thing I don't get. How is Jean alive?" Wolverine asked when they were out of earshot.

"The Phoenix Force." Charles replied.

Wolverine muttered a curse under his breath.

"I thought Emma got rid of it." He said.

"So did I." Charles Xavier responded. "But I sensed it's power in Jean when she flew past me."

"If the Phoenix Force is controlling Jean, then Wally and Artemis's home dimension is in for a whole lot of trouble." Wolverine said with worry.

Wally was still sitting dejectedly in the white medical room where he had woken up. He was currently trying to determine whether Artemis had been real or an illusion created by Wanda. As soon as Artemis saw Wally, she ran to his side and they embraced again. Now the tears fell freer than before.

"I thought you were dead, Wally," Artemis whispered "For a year."

"I'm so sorry babe. I don't have any memories of what happened. Just waking up in this crazy town a few days ago. Ummm, who is that blue furry guy? " Wally whispered back.

The Beast stood against the door and said

"Love is a smoke raised with the fumes of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes."

"The big blue guy is quoting Shakespeare, I think my point is made." Wally said

"The town's not crazy." Artemis laughed. "We're in some sort of alternate dimension. A side effect of being vaporized by Reach chrysalis, I guess."

"An alternate dimension! How did you get here?" Wally asked, sitting down on the bed and running his hands through his hair.

"Night Wing, Blue Beetle and Impulse figured it out." She replied

"Babe?" Wally chuckled, grabbing Artemis hands.

Artemis closed her eyes, savoring a feeling that she had thought she'd never feel again. Wally smiled and said

"We need to stop dying."

Artemis laughed. A full-out, side-ache, belly laugh. She hadn't laughed like this since before Wally 'died.' It was a laugh of relief more than anything. Relief that she had finally gotten Wally back. Beast handed Artemis her quiver, bow, and the small round portal device.

"This will contact our friends and give them the signal to open the portal." Artemis said confidently when she had finished laughing.

She clicked the button. Nothing happened. Still nothing. Wally frowned.

"Maybe the League is busy. Try again." He commanded

Artemis didn't meet Wally's eyes when she clicked the round button again. She didn't have the heart to tell Wally that his mentor, the Flash, had been against the plan to 'rescue' Wally. Soon Wolverine and The Professor joined the group. Artemis was determinedly clicking the button.

"It must have been Sportsmaster. The only reason why Night Wing wouldn't be opening the portal was if our inter-dimensional device was destroyed or had been taken." Artemis said to herself.

Wolverine met the Professor's worried gaze.

' _Chuck, do you think Jean would have destroyed the portal creating device?'_ Wolverine thought.

' _I'm afraid it's all too likely, Logan.'_ The professor thought back. _'If the Phoenix Force is in control of her, there is no telling what damage she could try to create.'_

After several hours of anxious waiting and button clicking, the professor addressed Artemis

"Why don't you stay here for the night, and try again in the morning. If there is any inter-dimensional activity we will inform you immediately, of course."

After another hour, Wally had convinced Artemis to rest.

Beast led them to two separate rooms in the girls and boys wings of the mansion.

"Breakfast is at 7 tomorrow morning if you want to join us. And I found Wally a change of clothes." He said kindly.

Wally and Artemis nodded, thanked him, and entered their rooms. They were large and plush, but felt empty to Wally. He quickly left in search of Artemis. He found her in her green suit, lying on the soft bed. She smiled to see him. The two quickly struck up a conversation about what had happened since Wally's disappearance. Somehow, it lead to Artemis asking Wally,

"Can we trust these X-Men?" she asked

"I'm pretty sure they aren't the bad guys."

What about the brotherhood, the ones who hypnotized you?"

"And took me in. I think that they're the… misunderstood guys." Wally joked

"But the X-Men?"

"I don't want to trust them. But we kind of have to."

"Plus, they lost their friend, and they probably want her back as much as I wanted you back." Artemis added thoughtfully.

Meanwhile, Wolverine sat dejectedly in the corner of Professor Xavier's office.

"If Wally's friends worked so hard to rescue him the first time I'm sure they will try again. And we could always have Forge examine the alien technology." The professor said.

"I'm more worried about what we are going to tell Scott." Logan said. "Hey Scott, Jean is alive, but now she's trapped in another dimension, possessed by the Phoenix Force, and the only way of rescuing her has mysteriously malfunctioned."

The professor sighed, pressing his fingers together in the form of a triangle as he pondered his options.

"We will tell him. But not now. Jean's death is too fresh in all of our minds." He concluded.

 **1st off- that wraps up Chapter 8! R-E-V-I-E-W! Review review review review!**

 **2nd off-**

 **Friend: Why do you obnoxiously demand reviews at the end of every chapter?**

 **Me: BECAUSE I MUST.**

 **Friend: But why do you want the readers to review so badly?**

 **Me: they must tell me how much they love me.**

 **Friend: You're a jerk.**

 **Me: YOU A JERK**

 **Friend: You're also grammatically incorrect. Stop asking for so many reviews and just post the new chapters every week.**

 **me*dejectedly*: Fine.**

 **3rdly- The rest of the X-Men are going to meet Wally and Artemis soon, same with the Young Justice team and Jean! Things are about to get fun.**


	10. Chapter 9

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW YEAH**

 **Jean**

Jean huddled cold and alone in an alleyway, a few streets away from the epicenter of the explosion. The explosion had released a huge amount of power, weakening the Phoenix Force, and keeping it from possessing her body and using her to cause mayhem.

She smelled smoke.

' _Who am I kidding. I caused mayhem anyway.'_ she thought sadly

She wondered if the X-Men knew where she was. A sinking feeling in her chest told her that she was beyond their reach. She had felt the lack of their presence as soon as she passed through the strange portal. She was afraid that she was on her own here, except for the Phoenix Force. It was still growing inside of her mind, and next time it grew stronger than her, she didn't know if she could stop it. Jean slowly stood up. She needed to find a telepath that could help her suppress the Phoenix.

' _Professor?'_ she called out with her mind. ' _Anybody?'_

There was no response, so Jean decided to return to where the portal had been before. Fortunately, Jean was only a few blocks away from the explosion.

 **Wally**

When Wally woke up, he knew immediately where he was. He recognized the soft snoring coming from the bed. Unwilling to return to his own room last night, Wally had fallen asleep on the floor of Artemis's room. He got up and returned to his own room, taking a shower and getting dressed in the clothes that Beast had provided. When he arrived at Artemis's room again, she was awake and clicking the small interdimensional device. She looked frustrated.

"Good morning, beautiful, do you want to get breakfast?" He asked gently

"Can't you see this is important!" She said grumpily

"OK… So do you want breakfast?" He asked again

She grunted frustratedly, clicking the device again.

"Is that girlfriend for 'bacon?'" he joked.

Artemis rolled her eyes and Wally headed downstairs. Girls confused him. He had just gotten Artemis back, and she was already annoyed with him. Wally found the kitchen and saw a variety of breakfast foods as well as kids his age. Many of them moped around the kitchen in a depressed mood.

Wally thought it had something to do with Jean, the redhead who had flown through the portal. Xavier had explained that she had gone through the portal and was probably trapped on the other side. Wally had seen Jean only once before, and she had been dead. In a freezer. Wally didn't really understand why she had suddenly come back to life, but he did wonder if the other students knew about her resurrection. From the depressing mood in the kitchen, he guessed that they didn't.

' _I wonder when the professor will tell them about Jean.'_ he thought to himself.

The last thing Wally wanted to do was face the other inhabitants of the X-Mansion. He flashed into the middle of the kitchen, grabbed some food, and sped back to the hallway, but as he did so, he ran into a blue furry teen who had appeared out of a sudden puff of smoke and sulfur. Both of them landed on their backs, while other teens eating breakfast stared at them or whispered to each other.

"Voah!" Said the fuzzy blue boy in a German accent "Do you know vhere the frozeen vaffles are?"

Embarrassed Wally help the other teen up and replied

"No, I'm kind of new around here."

' _What is it with the frozen waffles?'_ He thought.

The blue fuzzy teen identified himself.

"Oh, Vell, hello. My name is Kurt Vagner."

"I'm Ki- Wally. My name is Wally." It felt weird to tell a stranger his secret identity, but since no one knew who the Flash or Kid Flash was in this dimension, Wally figured he might as well go by his real name.

Kurt squinted at Wally until his eyes widened in recognition

"You vere helping ze brotherhood yesterday!" He exclaimed.

Instantly Wally felt all eyes in the room turn to him. News traveled fast. Wally thought he heard kids whispering,

"He's the one who destroyed Cerebro."

"He's fast, just like Quicksilver."

"Can we trust him?"

Wally was saved by the professor.

' _Students'_ his voice rang out like a telepathic PA system ' _There will be a meeting in 10 minutes in the foyer, yes your attendance is required.'_

Xavier and Logan sat in the foyer of the X-Mansion waiting for the students to assemble.

"So what exactly are we telling them?" Wolverine asked, unsure of the plan.

"The truth." Responded Xavier.

Wolverine nodded in approval. The truth was direct and he liked things to be direct.

"...but not all of the truth, just what they need to hear." Continued Storm.

Wolverine's shoulders involuntarily slumped.

"And there's the catch." He said.

Storm chuckled.

"Believe it or not, we're not evil or narrow-minded." Storm said "That seems to be a common misconception about teachers. We're just trying to keep the students from panicking. So much has happened in the last few days."

Slowly the students filtered into the foyer. Wally realized there was quite a lot of them. Artemis entered, saw Wally, and grabbed his hand.

"Hey." he said.

Even if she was ticked off at him, It didn't mean that she wanted to face the students alone.

Xavier caught the attentions of the students quickly.

"As some of you may have realized, we have had two new additions to the institute."

The professor mentally beckoned that Wally and Artemis walk forward and stand at his side.

"This is Wally West and Artemis Crock. Wally was involved in the… incident… yesterday with the brotherhood, but it was against his own will. Some of you know how it feels to be tricked or used for your abilities, so I assume you will harbor no bad feelings. Wally and Artemis's stay here will be temporary, they hope to return to their friends and family soon. Please make them feel welcome while they are here. "

A few of the younger mutants nodded, while others looked around uncomfortably at the mention of being 'used' for their powers.

"I know many of you have heard about Jean's death." The professor said.

Instant silence. No one moved a muscle.

"She was a beloved teacher and former student. She died a hero; saving the lives of her friends in a plane crash. Her family will be determining the proper time for a memorial service."

There were a few tears from various students.

Wally notice Kurt, from earlier, comforting a sensitive-looking girl with long brown hair.

Storm continued,

"On another note, some of you have voiced your concern over the growing anti-mutant hysteria that has been taking over the public opinion recently. Some of you even wanted to leave the school for this fourth quarter... We have decided that all students need to finish the school year at Bayville high."

The students murmured among themselves, Wally and Artemis could tell they had been hoping for a different solution.

"Depending on each student's individual situation and the state of anti-mutant support in the next few months, we will decide whether or not to allow an option for home-schooling next year. Please remember that this institute is founded on the idea that mutants and humans can learn to live in peace. That will be all." The professor finished.

 **Night Wing**

Night Wing stood in his charred living room looking for any sign of Sportsmaster, the portal device, or the "flaming red-head," described by Impulse. Blue beetle and Impulse were trying to find Sportsmaster as well, searching the city and the internet, but there didn't seem to be any trace of him besides the bruise on the back of Night Wing's head.

Frowning, Night Wing left the half-demolished building. As he walked out the door, he turned and caught sight of a red-headed girl in a yellow spandex suit watching the building from the shadows. She looked tired and a little afraid, not at all like a super villain, more like a victim. She also matched the description Impulse had given him. The girl turned around and walked quickly away from the site. Night Wing followed her about a block or so. She kept talking to herself as she walked

"You got this, Jean. Hold IT back. I've got to find the professor."

Night Wing assumed that the girl was named Jean, but he wasn't sure who' IT' or 'the professor' was. Jean looked old enough to have finished high-school, about 18 or 19 years old. She was obviously unfamiliar with the city, she kept stopping and looking around as if she was unsure which way to go. Night Wing decided not to reveal his presence.

The girl hadn't done anything to warrant suspicion yet, but she definitely looked out of place.

Night Wing would be keeping an eye on her.

 **Jean**

Wandering the streets wasn't exactly the best plan, but it was Jean's only plan. She had returned to the place where she had come out of the strange glowing portal-thing. It was gone. Jean wondered if she had destroyed it in the explosion. She began to walk in the opposite direction of the explosion site. There were still police officers hanging around there, and it made her uncomfortable.

Jean stopped to look at a newspaper stand, and saw nothing about mutant prejudice. Instead she saw articles about alien invasions and something called the JLA. Jean wondered where she was.

"I'm not in Bayville anymore." she couldn't help saying out loud.

As she walked down the streets, she saw a small, motel. Luckily, Jean had some cash. However, she only had enough money for a few nights, and perhaps a change of clothes. She was getting enough weird looks with her ripped up yellow spandex.

It was a precaution that most X-Men took when travelling on a mission. In case anything like this happened.

As Jean payed for her room for the night, she realized that she wasn't sure what had happened to her. The last thing she remembered was coming through the portal and exploding in physic fire, when the Phoenix Force had overtaken her. She thought back a little farther. Then she remembered the jet crash.

As Jean stood in the door-way of her tiny ramshackle motel room, she was hit with the thought,

' _I died.'_

It was such a simple thought, but it put perspective on everything. Most people would probably overjoyed to have a second chance at life... But Jean was not. She knew it meant that the Phoenix Force was growing stronger.

Jean thought back to the strange portal. That portal had brought her here (wherever 'here' was). But now it was gone. She regretted the hasty decision, but decided to dwell on the fact that it could have been the X-Mansion instead.

Jean flopped down on the bed. It was lumpy and uncomfortable. Nothing like her room at the mansion. Jean couldn't help thinking of Scott, with his over-protective nature, he was probably worked up and adamant about finding her.

Jean thought of reaching out to her friends, telling them where she was, and that she was alright. Normally, such a skill would be beyond her, but she had the Phoenix now. Pulling from its seemingly endless power reserves, Jean mentally reached out, ignoring everyone else except her friends. She tuned out the minds of anyone who was unfamiliar to her. Spreading her consciousness she searched for a single mind that she could recognize.

Channeling the Phoenix was a bit like Cerebro on steroids. Jean scanned the continent, searching for her family or her friends. But she didn't find them. She didn't even find anyone that she recognized.

Falling to her bed with a gasp, Jean realized that she had been levitating above her bed. She felt drained of all energy, and didn't try to get up. She just lay on the bed, taking deep breaths, and analyzing her situation.

' _I do not know where I am.'_ she thought

Breath in.

' _I cannot find my friends or family.'_

Breath out.

' _The Phoenix Force is trying to control me.'_

Breath in.

' _I will not let it.'_

Breath out.

' _I will find my way home."_

Eventually, Jean found sleep

 **1st off- PLEASE Review!**

 **2nd off- Thanks to**

 **-Noa171**

 **-mredt**

 **-Haliebri98**

 **-DoDo1401**

 **\- all guests**

 **for being my steadfast reviewers! ;) GUACAMOLE FOR ALL OF YOU!**

 **3rdly-**

 **So this takes place a year after the end of YJ and X-M:E. However, Wally has no memory of the year that takes place between the last episode of YJ and him arriving in Bayville. I had the idea of adding a few bonus chapters explaining what happened to him during that time and how he lost his memories. I would be willing to make these bonus chapters a cross-over with a different tv show or book.**

 **I would love some suggestions about whether or not to do these bonus chapters! Some ideas I had for worlds for Wally to visit are...**

 **-Percy Jackson and The Olympians**

 **-Danny phantom**

 **-Teen Titans Go**

 **-Maximum Ride**

 **-Flash (CW version)**

 **-and your suggestions!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Night Wing**

Night Wing had been observing Jean for two days now. He had discerned, her name, and that she was from a place called Bayville (which didn't show up on any maps), but not much else. He was pretty suspicious that she was the red head Impulse had seen. But Night Wing couldn't bring himself to believe that this girl was dangerous. She seemed, unsure and a little afraid, but not dangerous. He didn't want to arrest or interrogate a possible innocent, so he restricted himself to monitoring her behavior closely. He had only told the Justice League that he was following a lead on Impulses 'red-headed girl'.

' _The League can be pretty intimidating, and I don't want to scare Jean into a fight-or-flight response.'_ Night Wing thought to himself.

As a result, he had spent the last few days in stake-out mode outside the cheap motel where Jean was staying.

If Night Wing was completely honest with himself, however, he didn't want to face the rest of his team any time soon. When the other members of Young Justice found out about the plan to get Kid Flash back, things had turned ugly.

 _Night Wing stood in the common room of mount Justice, and he had just finished explaining everything that had happened to the young justice team._

" _You need to understand how your actions can affect your team mates." The Batman said to Night Wing._

 _Night Wing was silent. He was too old to get these lectures from his former mentor any more. And he hadn't wanted to tell his friends about his brilliant-plan-gone-wrong. Even if he knew it was the right thing to do. But Batman had insisted._

" _Wally was our friend too!" M'gann shrieked in dis-belief, once Night Wing had told his tale._

" _I can't believe you would betray our friendship like that." Aqualad said accusingly._

 _His voice was calm, but his eyes showed how hurt he was. Conner was silent, but had a shocked expression on his face._

 _Night Wing hung his head in shame. He had wanted his friends to find out about his plan differently. Best scenario, Wally himself would get to explain it to the team. But this was definitely not the Best Scenario._

 _After a few seconds of painfully awkward silence, Aqualad said quietly,_

" _Is Wally really alive?"_

 _Night Wing's head snapped up, and he met Aqualad's eyes._

" _Kaldur, you know that I wouldn't have done this if I wasn't sure there was a chance we could save Wally."_

" _A chance!" M'gann interrupted angrily. "You have killed Artemis on a chance!"_

" _We don't know that Artemis is dead!" Night Wing shouted back_

" _Just like we don't know that Wally is alive." M'gann said. "Ever since Wally died, You've been in denial. But this is getting unhealthy! You're so unwilling to move on with your life that you pulled Impulse and Blue Beetle and Artemis into your little fantasy world where Wally isn't dead!"_

 _By the end of her rant, M'gann had broken into tears. She flew off, away from the group and the incredulous stares of her teammates. Batman stood impassive, monitoring the situation, but not intervening._

" _M'gann!" Night Wing called in frustration._

 _He would have run after her, but Aqualad stopped him. Superboy narrowed his eyes at Night Wing and said,_ " _Way to go, heartless leader."_

 _Turning away from the group, he stalked off angrily, tense and unapproachable. Night Wing didn't try to run after him._

" _Let them mourn. For all we know, another friend is dead." Kaldur said in a cold tone_

" _Kaldur, I would never do anything to hurt the team." Night Wing had said._

 _But deep down, Night Wing began to wonder if he had made the right decision in trying to find Wally. If he had made the right decision in including some team members but isolating the others. If he made the right decision to involve his team at all._

 _On the inside, Night Wing was crushed by his team's reaction, but he kept his face calm and stoic. The only sign of his guilt was the slight waver in his voice._

" _Kaldur, you've been my friend for more than five years. You know me. I just want to help the team."_

 _Kaldur shook his head._

" _I don't know you anymore."_

Nightwing sighed heavily because he knew he would have to face his team again, but from their disdainful treatment, he feared that it wouldn't be any better than the last time.

At that moment, Night Wing was sitting outside the motel where Jean had been staying for the past day. He was dressed in his civilian clothes, but had his communicator, utility belt and of course, his ever-present sunglasses. Glancing from his hiding spot, he realized Jean had left the motel and was walking through the city. He stealthily moved out of the bushes and followed her. The girl hadn't come outside more than three times in the last three days, but she hadn't exactly caused trouble, either. She had merely gone out to buy food, a pair of clothes, and gone to the ATM, which had not seemed to work. Night Wing wondered if she had a limited supply of cash. She had also visited a nearby pay-phone a few times, but she was not able to call whoever she was trying to reach.

Presently, Jean was in an otherwise abandoned corner store, grabbing various food items. Night Wing silently entered the store before she noticed him. Jean looked around suspiciously, and without paying, she tried to leave. As she walked to the door, she was stopped by the cashier. Night Wing guessed that his theory about her dwindling supply of money was correct.

"Hey, you need to buy those!" The cashier called.

Jean turned, a guilty look on her face.

"Sorry." she muttered.

But she didn't pay for the food. Instead she just stared at the cashier suddenly looked around confused.

"What was I-" he asked, confused

"You were just telling me to have a nice day." Jean said convincingly.

"Oh, right. Have a nice day."

Quickly, Jean left the store, not noticing Night Wing on her way out. Night WIng knew he couldn't put this off any longer. After watching the whole exchange take place, he knew it was time to call in the League. For a second he considered approaching Jean on his own, but he decided against it. Acting on his own had turned out badly last time.

Night Wing signalled Batman.

"This is Night Wing, I found a suspect for Impulse's red-head. We can take her in for questioning if you come to my location. She appears to have some sort of mental ability." he said into his communicator.

Jean left the store, but Night Wing followed her down the road. A few minutes later, a red and blue blur shoot down from the sky and land in front of Jean. Startled, she dropped her stolen goods.

Superman was the well-known and well-respected face of the Justice League. Night Wing felt sure his presence would at least intimidate the girl into cooperation.

"Miss, we need you to come with us." Superman said.

People on the surrounding sidewalks took out their phones and started recording. The redhead looked surprised to see Superman.

"Who- Who are you?" She said "What do you want?"

Night Wing started to worry.

' _How could she NOT know who superman is?'_ He thought.

"Let's get to the point, miss. the Justice League has an eye witness that reports you at the scene of the explosion that took place just a few blocks from here, a couple of days ago. We want to hear your version of what happened." Superman said, grabbing Jean's arm.

His grip was by no means painful, but it was as strong as iron.

"Let go of me!" Jean yelled, eyes glowed brightly.

She used her telekinesis to slam Superman into a near-by building.

His body created a crater in the wall, and Jean gasped as her eyes returned to normal.

"Oh no," she breathed, suddenly convulsing in pain.

Superman flew away from the building and grabbed Jean, not so gently this time.

"I'm sorry, but I can't control it!" Jean screamed and her eyes rolled back in her head before glowing brightly again.

Civilians started to panic, running away while simultaneously attempting to keep their camera-phones steady.

Jean used her telekinesis to break free and fly into the air, but Superman followed. When she used her telekinesis to throw him against another building, he got up just as quickly as he had before. Jean realized that Superman was not going to back down. She floated above the city streets and laughed harshly. Her eyes were still glowing.

"It feels good to be free." She said, but her voice was different.

It sounded like a hundred different voices mixed together, giving her a cruel and horrific tone.

"This pathetic shell couldn't suppress me for long. I haven't been in a real fight for centuries. Not against a real challenge." She continued, breaking out into laughter again.

Superman launched himself at Jean, a blue bullet of pure power aimed right at her. Jean quickly held up a hand and everything within a few yards radius froze, including Superman.

Her hand balled up into a fist and Superman responded in agony, grabbing his head and dropping to the ground limp.

"Let's see what's going on in your head." Jean said.

Night Wing was worried. Really worried. He grabbed his communicator and whispered.

"Um, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Superman needs back-up now!"

Jean seemed too distracted by Superman to notice Night Wing. Superman was beginning to put up a mental fight, but the man of steel didn't have a mind of steel. In the mental realm he was much weaker, Night Wing had descended to the ground and was walking calmly towards Superman, fist extended in his direction.

"This is the best your realm can offer?" She scoffed in disdain.

Jean didn't notice Night Wing sneak silently and quickly behind her. He pulled a metal stick from his utility belt that quickly expanded into a thin metal bowstaff. With as much power as he could muster, he hit Jean full on in the back of the head. Night Wing hoped that although Jean had fantastic telepathic and telekinetic abilities, she was as physically vulnerable as any teenage girl. Luckily, she was.

' _I know how much that hurts.'_ Thought Night Wing as Jean collapsed unconscious.

Immediately her eyes stopped glowing and Superman relaxed as the pain that was tormenting him subsided.

Just then, the rest of the Justice League arrived.

 **1st off- Whaddya Guys think? Please Review if you think Superman shouldn't have been defeated so easily.**

 **We all know that the JL isn't the real star of the show, but in this fanfic, Superman doesn't have any telepathic resistance or Kryptonian mind tricks up his sleeve. (In some of the comics he does, but I don't think he does in the YJ universe)**

 **2nd off- Sometimes I just can't handle Chromey. Chromey is the name of my laptop. Is it weird that I name my electronic devices? Anyway, the reason why Chromey is so infuriating today is that Chromey refuses to recognize any superhero name as valid. Every time I type NIGHT WING or AQUALAD there is a little red squiggly line underneath it- which is driving me insane. I don't like little red lines that mar the surface of my otherwise beautifully black and white screen! I'm not a perfectionist or anything, but I CAN'T STAND for this not to be perfect! HOW DARE YOU MOCK THE NAME OF NIGHT WING, CHROMEY?! AND HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO AUTO-CORRECT AQUALAD'S NAME TO "SALAD!"**

 **Kudos, if you actually read all that. I just did that whole rant so this chapter would be exactly four pages.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11, it's here People!**

 **Night Wing**

 _Previously_

 _Jean had descended to the ground and was walking calmly towards Superman, fist extended in his direction._

 _"This is the best your realm can offer?" She scoffed in disdain._

 _Jean didn't notice Night Wing sneak silently and quickly behind her. He pulled a metal stick from his utility belt that quickly expanded into a thin metal bowstaff. With as much power as he could muster, he hit Jean full on in the back of the head. Night Wing hoped that although Jean had fantastic telepathic and telekinetic abilities, she was as physically vulnerable as any teenage girl. Luckily, she was._

 _'I know how much that hurts.' Thought Night Wing as Jean collapsed unconscious._

 _Immediately her eyes stopped glowing and Superman relaxed as the pain that was tormenting him subsided._

 _Just then, the rest of the Justice League arrived._

"What happened here?" Asked Wonder Woman, as she took in the partially destroyed buildings and the unconscious red-head.

Superman looked uncomfortable.

"The girl is a powerful telepath. We need to get J'onn immediately."

A couple of League members quickly tranquilized Jean and put an inhibitor collar on her. The police showed up and began to tape off the scene and quell the curious crowds that were amassing at the fight scene. Wonder Women and a few lesser known League members began to assure the civilians of their safety, talk to the local police, and do damage didn't say anything about Night Wing saving him. Instead, he started conferring with Batman on how to contain Jean.

"Inhibitor collars might work." Superman was saying

"A telepathic block would be better. I'll ask J'onn." Batman replied.

Feeling left out, Night Wing joined the conversation.

"Umm, this was supposed to be MY responsibility… I mean, the responsibility of the Young Justice team." He added as an afterthought.

Batman and Superman simply stared at Night Wing. Their glares were so condescending that Night Wing felt the need to defend himself.

"You said that we needed to clean-up the mess we started in order to prove ourselves. So let us handle this-"

"No." Batman said bluntly, stopping Night Wing from arguing further.

"This girl, she is too powerful to take a chance with." Superman said.

Night Wing felt anger building up in his chest. He hated it when the Justice League treated side-kicks like children. But he also knew that getting angry wouldn't solve anything. He allowed himself to take a deep breath and calm down. Superman and Batman had already moved on and were talking in hushed tones with other Leaguers.

"We could put her in Belle Reve. Or Iron heights. They are both meta human prisons." Flash suggested

"What about the phantom zone?" Superman added.

Then Batman spoke up

"Are you sure she could be held by any of those prisons? Less powerful criminals have escaped from those places. And we know nothing about this girl- except for the fact that she is dangerous."

The other League members nodded. Night Wing couldn't help but thinking,

' _The one thing that we know is that she is key to saving Wally and Artemis.'_

"I think we should put her in the pipeline, if that's okay with the Flash." Batman continued "We can keep her isolated and deprived of her powers there. The pipeline was designed for the purpose of holding powerful metas. And if anything happens, the Flash will be able to alert the rest of us."

The other League members seemed in agreement. Superman had soon taken Jean away through a zeta tube, and Night Wing was left to talk to his old mentor.

"Listen, I don't think that this girl, Jean, wants to hurt us." he said "I think she can't control her powers. Something in her mind is driving her to act aggressively. Like when we first met Superboy."

Night Wing couldn't tell because of the mask, but he was sure Batman was giving him a skeptical look. After pondering that idea for a moment, Batman said in a tone that allowed no argument,

"Night wing, we still can't take a chance with her."

Disappointed, Night Wing left in a hurry to find Impulse and and Blue Beetle. His team would help him get to the bottom of all this. He went to the nearest zeta tube and was about to head to Blue Beetle's location when he changed his mind. On the spur of the moment, he put in the coordinates for Mount Justice. Night Wing was going to get his team. ALL of his team.

Using the zeta tubes, he made his way to the former Justice League headquarters.

Upon entrance, he saw Aqualad, Zatanna, Beast Boy, and M'gann talking together in the kitchen.

" _Night Wing B-01._ " a metallic female voice announced

Zatanna and Beast Boy hurried off as soon as they saw Night Wing, wanting to stay out of the conflict. Kaldur visibly stiffened when he saw his former teammate, and Miss Martian turned away, refusing to meet his eyes.

In that moment, Night Wing thought of one hundred different ways to convince his friends he was right, but what came out was,

"I never said sorry."

Aqualad and Miss Martian looked surprised. They had been expecting defensiveness or frustration.

"I messed up." Night Wing continued, "I shouldn't have hidden my plans from the team. Especially from you guys. You were right, M'gann, I was in denial."

At this point Conner walked into the room, but he did not leave. Instead he silently observed the apology.

"I thought I knew all the answers. I thought I could handle this on my own. I thought I had the authority to put Artemis, Blue, and Impulse in danger because I thought I was right. But I didn't."

"You didn't." Kaldur agreed

"So, I'm saying sorry- and asking for your help." This was the hardest part for Night Wing. " I don't need you to forgive me, just to help me get Artemis and maybe even Wally back. Please. I tried this once without you three, and it didn't work."

Night Wing searched, Aqualad's, Superboy's, and Miss Martian's faces, trying to discern their expression. The three shared a knowing look.

"The sign of a great leader is one who can recognize his own failures, and humbly accept responsibility for them." Kaldur said with a smile.

Miss Martian smiled and hugged Night Wing

"I'm sorry too." she said sheepishly. "I might have over-reacted earlier."

The three turned to Connor, who had not spoken at throughout the entire exchange.

"We're a team. Nothing changes that." He muttered.

 **Jean**

Jean was relieved to find that the phoenix was no longer in control of her body, but a little shocked to find herself in a small cell-like room. There was a collar around her neck that seemed to suppress the Phoenix, as well as her normal powers.

Jean couldn't help thinking,

' _Owww… I've haven't channeled that much power since… since the first time.'_

The 'first time' that Jean was referring to was the first time that the Phoenix had taken control of her body. The first time, Emma frost, another telepath, had tried to "contain" the Phoenix, which resulted in her death.

Jean had assumed the Phoenix had been destroyed when Emma died with the Phoenix trapped inside her body. She was wrong.

"I'm sorry Emma." Jean whispered, curling up into a ball on the floor of her prison "Your sacrifice was for nothing."

 **LexCorp**

Sportsmaster lounged in Lex's waiting room, waiting for his boss to meet with him. After the Reach had been exposed, the Light had been lying low. But now Lex Luthor was ready to make a come-back, and Sportsmaster made it a point to be in the good graces of whoever was in control of the situation. That meant that Sportsmaster worked for LexCorp now.

"You can see mr. Luthor now." Said Lex's pretty personal secretary.

Lex Luthor's personal office was richly furnished and decorated, but it did not lack functionality. Lex was seated at a huge neatly-organized desk, his hands crossed and expression calm.

"I recovered the stolen property." Sportsmaster said, jumping straight to the point.

Lex leaned forward and looked his employee straight in the eye.

"It doesn't exactly make-up for the fact that you let LexCorp property be stolen in the first place. But I'm more interested in what you took from the... sidekicks."

Ignoring the evident distaste in Lex's tone, Sportsmaster explained how he had taken the portal device that Night Wing and Blue Beetle had built. He explained seeing a flaming ginger come out of the portal, the huge explosion, and the chaos that ensued. He didn't mention that Artemis, his daughter, went through the portal. That would be just another flaw on his resume.

But Lex knew something was up.

"The interdimensional scanner keeps picking up something coming from another dimension. Like someone is trying to signal us. Did Night Wing send anyone through?" he asked.

Sportsmaster shrugged.

"I doubt it." he lied, acting like he didn't know a thing.

Lex frowned.

"The repercussions of sending someone to another dimension…" he muttered "Tell me more about the being that came through." Lex asked

After a few minutes more of explaining, Lex nodded.

"Yes, a powerful being in deed. But the Justice League has her now." he said

Lex turned to a computer screen and pulled up an online video titled ' _EPIC SUPERMAN BATTLE WITH HOT REDHEAD!'_ The shaky video showed Superman being thoroughly beaten by a redhead, but saved at the last minute by A civilian in sunglasses with a bow staff. The Justice League then arrived and promptly took the girl away.

"The redhead is pretty hot." Sportsmaster admitted.

Lex was deep in contemplation.

' _The power of that girl is amazing. If there is a whole other world of people just like her, the power that could be harnessed is potentially unimaginable.'_

"Sportsmaster…" Lex said, addressing his employee, "If you were willing to go and scope out this other dimension, I might be willing to forget the little mishap where you were beaten by your own daughter."

Sportsmaster nodded, grimacing to Lex's patronizing tone.

"Sure thing boss."

"If you meet anyone from our dimension- particularly Kid Flash- kill them. I don't need anyone hindering my plans for this other world."

"Of course, boss." Sportsmaster's reply came a little slower this time.

The thought of killing didn't irk him; Sportsmaster was fine with killing. It was the thought that his daughter was the one he might have to kill. Yes, Sportsmaster was a terrible father, but that didn't mean he wanted his own kid dead. But the doubt only surfaced in his mind for a moment before he squelched it down. He would do what he had to do.

 **1st off- review review review!**

 **2nd off- I do not have writer's block**

 **My writer just hates the clock.**

 **If you understood that reference, you are my new favorite person. I still don't anything by the way... Duh... If I owned anything, I wouldn't be here.**


	13. Chapter 12

**Some more X-Men for y'all. By the way, my Chromebook is dead, so I am currently on back-up plan C; Confiscate my parent's computer. I sorry that this chapter is a little late. I will try to keep updating once a week.**

 **Rogue**

Rogue was in her room, lying on the bed with her earbuds in, staring at the ceiling. She didn't feel like doing anything else, and she certainly did npt feel like talking to anybody. Well, there was one person she wished she could talk to. But he was in Louisiana, taking care of family matters.

So Rogue was lying in an empty bed room trying not to think about... Jean.

Rogue felt sort of empty when she thought about Jean. Sometimes she would start crying or shaking with out warning, surprising herself. She was still in shock.

It had been five days since Jean had died, and those five days had moved so fast that there had barely been any time to think.

First Jean's death, then the Brotherhood attack, the professor's announcement that the mutants would be going back to school soon, and now there were two strangers at the school.

 _'They don't seem that bad. Especially the redhead' Rogue thought. 'What's-his-name? Wally. He's kinda cute. But there's something off about them. And it's not just the fact that he destroyed Cerebro or was with the brotherhood.'_

A knock on the door interrupted Rouge's musing.

"Go away!" Rogue yelled, cranking her music up louder.

"It's me Rogue!" came Kitty's voice.

"Ah don't care!"

Undeterred, Kitty phased through the door. Her own cheeks were flushed red like she had been just finished crying, and her hair was disheveled.

"I thought that you might need a friend." she said quietly.

Rogue pulled out her earbuds, but continued to stare at the blank white ceiling.

"When've ah ever needed anybody?" she asked in her thick Southern accent.

In response, Kitty ran her hands through her hair.

"You got me." she sighed, collapsing on the bed next to Rogue. "I only came 'cause I needed a friend."

Rogue didn't shoo the other girl away, or reprimand her. Instead, the two sat in silence, not talking, not crying, just staring silently at the ceiling. Finally, it was Rogue that spoke first.

"Ah, was never real nice ta Jean. But ah didn't hate 'er. I think the team needed her. To be a leader and all that."

"I know what you mean. I could always look up to her. When I didn't know what to do, I could always ask Jean without feeling dumb. I don't know what I'll do now that she's gone." Kitty confessed

"Yore not stupid, sugar. And we'll keep moving on. We haft to. It's what Jean woulda wanted."

"Poor Scott." It occurred to Kitty that Scott was probably taking this worse than anyone else.

Rouge couldn't help but think that it was evident by the way Scott went practically insane earlier. She sighed in agreement.

"Jean was Scott's girl. Ah'm worrying about him the most."

 **Scott**

Scott was exhausted. Not physically, but emotionally. He had woken up in his bed, heavily sedated and unable to lash out. Instead, he started crying pathetically.

"Jean…" he said softly.

Instantly the professor was there, soothing him.

"It's all right Scott." he said simply.

But Scott knew that it was not alright. Still, he tried to dry his tears and appear strong at the presence of another person.

"Jean is gone!" he moaned

At first, the only emotion he felt was sadness.

"I can't do this professor." he said, closing his eyes.

But that didn't stop another tear from rolling down his cheeks. It slipped past the golden rims of his ruby red glasses and stained the blanket on his bed.

"How am I supposed to go on? How am I supposed to live and laugh and teach without her?" Scott asked.

"For now, Scott, you don't have to do anything. Just mourn." The professor said in a calming voice.

Seeing that Scott was fairly calm, the professor slowly wheeled himself out of Scott's room.

"Wait!" Scott exclaimed, just as the professor was passing through the door. He sat up and looked the professor in the eye.

"Can I see her?" Scott asked desperately. "Can I see Jean's body?"

For a second, the professor stiffened. He looked almost afraid, or maybe it was guilt that Scott spied on his face. But that second passed quickly, and the professor replied.

"I'm sorry, Scott, but we don't have the body."

Scott slumped back, with an empty look in his eye. He didn't speak or argue, he just sat in his bed, with a crushed expression.

The professor quickly wheeled out of Scott's room to see Wolverine waiting in the hallway.

"We need to tell him." Wolverine stated

The professor sighed.

 _'I wish we could, Logan. But we don't know enough yet. We don't know if Jean is still alive, or if we can even get her back.'_

Wolverine bristled with anger.

"If there is a chance, Scott deserves to know." he spat.

Stalking down the hallway, Wolverine knew that he shouldn't be so angry. Jean wasn't actually dead. But it still felt like it.

Heading outside, Logan grabbed his helmet and jumped on his motorcycle. He needed to blow off some steam; preferably in the direction of that idiot, Sabertooth.

As Wolverine rode away from the X-Mansion, Scott stood at his window sill staring at the grounds. The grass was neatly trimmed and the trees were donning their coats of new leaves. A few flowers poked through the grass, even though it was April. It was overall a lovely scene, but Scott didn't find any joy in it. The scene outside the window didn't even look red, like the world normally did. To Scott, everything was Grey.

 **Kurt**

Kurt BAMF'd though the hallways, looking for someone to talk to. The Professor was busy, and Rogue and Kitty were having some sort of girl moment. Kurt was not looking for someone to cry with, just someone who could keep his mind off Jean. Kurt dealt with things by acting. And sometimes 'acting' meant acting out.

The Professor constantly warned Kurt not to cause any trouble, saying it would be a bad role model for younger students. Still, most of the students and teachers put up with his annoying pranks and bad jokes. It was just a part of who he was. But with Jean's death, it didn't feel right to be joking around.

Kurt had earned some nasty glares from students he had tried to joke with.

It hurt.

It reminded him when people had given him that same glare and called him a monster.

Of course, Kurt knew that the other students weren't rejecting him because of his mutation, or because they didn't like him. Their beloved teacher and friend, Jean, had just died! Of course they were upset! Kurt was upset too. Jean was like a sister to him, and he was in mourning as much as anybody. But he processed his grief by trying to stay cheerful and mischievous- something the other mutants did not appreciate.

So after the fourth student snapped at him or burst out in tears, Kurt took to wandering the halls. He didn't want to be still or sit in a corner because if he did that, he was afraid he would start thinking. About Jean. About Mystique. About his adopted parents in Germany. About his mutation.

"No." Kurt said out loud, stopping himself mid-thought.

He needed to stop that train of thought before it even left the station. In Kurt's relatively short and troublesome life, Kurt had learned that it was best not to dwell on sad things.

 _'Thinking sad thoughts never did anything for anyone.'_ Kurt recited to himself mentally.

Kurt began to wonder about the strange new students. Artemis and Wally. Wally was obviously a speedster, and Pietro-Quicksilver- didn't like it when his powers were challenged by someone faster. So Kurt found it suspicious that Wally had sided with the Brother hood first. it might have only been for a few days, but Kurt wasn't prone to trust the group formerly run by his mother, Mystique. And Wally was too similar to Pietro to be ignored. He had the same powers, the same athletic runner's body, the same spiky hair, and the same mischievous smirk plastered on his face.

Kurt would be keeping an eye on Wally.

The blond girl he was with was a different matter. Artemis had not displayed any powers yet, and Kurt wasn't sure that she had any. However, she had appeared suddenly inside Cerebro, and Kurt speculated on how that could have happened.

"Maybe she can teleport, like me." Kurt muttered out loud as he BAMF'd into a hallway.

The hallway was empty, so Kurt kept moving. He considered going outside, but that would mean he would have to get his holo-watch, check with the teachers before leaving, and avoid a majority of the Bayville populace.

When the world found out about mutants well over a year ago, Kurt had thought that the hysteria would settle down. Apparently not. Recently, huge anti-mutant demonstrations had been taking place, especially in Bayville, where the Institute had been outed as a harbor for young mutants. Some of the parents had pulled their mutant children out of the Institute, only to send them back a few months later, when they discovered that anti-mutant sentiment was just as bad in their hometown.

Many of the students had approached Xavier about dropping out of Bayville high school after a disaster had closed the school to any mutants a week ago. In the beginning of April, several anti-mutant groups lead by students had assembled in front of Bayville high to refuse to let any mutants in. The teachers and police didn't do anything to stop the injustice until the brotherhood had started using their powers on the human students. The X-Men had inevitably gotten involved, and things had escalated downhill form there. The result was all mutants suspended from Bayville high: Brotherhood, X-Men, or otherwise.

The professor was able to get the headmaster to allow the mutants to return to Bayville at the end of the week. Which meant Kurt would be going back to school to face prejudice and bullying. Despite the holo-watch, Kurt's mutation made him a target for especially cruel bullies. Or even idiotic teachers.

Kurt wasn't sure that he wanted to go back. He also thought that the X-Men should keep to themselves next time the Brotherhood threatened "helpless" humans.

"Ugh. I am thinking depressing thoughts again." Kurt said out loud to himself.

Filled with conflicting anger, sadness and despair, Kurt BAMF'd into the next hallway, only to run into a certain redhead.

 **Wally**

Wally was bored of watching Artemis press a button, so he was wandering the halls of the X-Mansion. After all, how often do you get to travel to another dimension? (Well, if you're the Flash, pretty often.)

Wally had tried to ask Artemis about the year he had missed and so on, but she kept saying that 'she didn't want to talk about it.'

Wally felt understandably guilty about leaving his girlfriend for a whole year, even if he hadn't meant to.

The entire X-Mansion was in a state of silent grieving. Wally knew what it was like to mourn for a beloved friend. At least, one who wasn't really dead. But it seemed that the rest of the students and X-Men did not know about Jean's rebirth.

The professor had briefly explained to Wally and Artemis about Jean.

 _"Because Jean is a telepath, she can host a powerful...force… called the Phoenix. The Phoenix Force allows her to be reborn after she dies. However, she... it... can become rather unstable. It is likely that the Phoenix was drawn to the power that your portal created, and is why Jean went through." The professor lectured._

 _"So she can't die? That would be nice." muttered Wally._

 _"We've had plenty of experience with 'dying' and coming back to life." Artemis said._

 _The professor eyed the pair skeptically._

 _"We would appreciate it if you could not publicize Jean's condition. Or the fact that she is trapped in another dimension. Some of the students did not even know that Jean had ever been possessed by the Phoenix Force in the first place."_

 _Artemis nodded and glanced at Wally._

 _"Don't worry professor, it's your call." Wally said reassuringly._

 _The professor looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Wally wasn't sure about keeping secrets. It had never worked out that well on the Young Justice team, and he doubted that it would work much better here. But like he had said, it was the professor's call._

Wally tip-toed through the hallways, trying not to attract attention. Until he bumped into a student that appeared out of nowhere.

BUMP

CRASH

"OW!"

Wally had walked head-on into the furry blue teenager who had appeared suddenly in the hallway.

"Man, I have got to stop doing zat." the student said.

Seeing that it was Wally he had run into, the fuzzy teenager that Wally recognized as Kurt got a suspicious look on his face.

Wally had gotten used to the sight of blue fur. In fact, blue fur was relatively normal compared to some of Wally and Artemis's team mates. Kurt looked around awkwardly, however, his tail twitching back and forth nervously. He seemed rather unsure around Wally, as if he was afraid that Wally would start to attack the X-Mansion again. Wally wondered if someone had betrayed Kurt's trust before. Maybe it was just the fact that the X-men were usually fighting against speedsters."

"Dude, I'm cool." Wally said. "I'm not some clone of Pietro. Remember?"

Now Kurt looked ashamed.

"Who am I to judge." he said, looking at his misshapen three-fingered hands.

"Don't sweat it! I have friends who look way weirder than you." Wally said cheerfully.

"Really?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Green skin, scales, fur, you name it. But they're still my friends."

"Zey are mutants like us?" Kurt asked hopefully.

 _'Technically they are meta humans- It's basically the same thing.'_ Wally thought to himself.

"Sure..." Wally said slowly, unwilling to crush the hope shining in Kurt's eyes

Kurt got a smirk on his face.

"Speaking of your friends, who iz faster, you or Pietro?"

"Pietro's not my friend, but I don't know…" Wally replied

Kid Flash was not the fastest speedster in Central City. Somehow, Wally had felt that if he ever became faster than his mentor, the Flash, he was being disloyal. After all, the Flash was the fastest man alive. But still, Wally dreamed of someday taking over the mantle of Flash. Deep down, Wally knew that he had the potential to be as fast as the Flash, or even faster... Maybe that was how he had survived being vaporized by the Reach chrysalis.

"Iv'e noticed that the atmosphere is a little, depressing around here." Wally said, "We should pay the brotherhood a little visit. Start up a little friendly, competition."

Kurt's eyes widened.

"I don't know, ze brotherhood are our sworn enemies." he said.

"Exactly!" Kid Flash emphasized. "And they need to learn that they can't mess with the X-men, or with Kid Flash, and not expect payback. It would be good to get out and do something,"

Despite the depressing events of the last few days, Kurt smiled. Any excuse to prank was a good excuse to prank.

"I have some vater balloons I have been saving…" Kurt said.

"I could run into town and get some glitter…" Kid Flash replied.

Kid Flash sped off in the direction of town, while Kurt disappeared with a BAMF and a wisp of smoke. Wally could not help but think that maybe these strangers were'nt so bad after all. little did he know, Kurt was thinking the same thing.

 **The Brotherhood**

Pietro had just finished up getting lunch from McDonald's (Pietro wasn't very patient and the McDonald's had the fastest/cheapest service in town) when he returned to the brotherhood house.

He stopped when he saw a layer of pink, coating the entire house. There were pink water balloons-everywhere. They covered the ground, and were taped to the walls so that they coated everything in a blanket of colorful plastic balloons. And to make things worse, they were all pink. Pietro tried to open the door, but popped quite a few of the balloons in the process. The balloons were filled with a liquid that had the consistency and smell of curdled mix. And was there… glitter... mixed in with this foul smelling liquid? Now Pietro was starting to get angry. It was then that he became aware of Toad's voice.

"HELP! I'm trapped!"

Pietro tried to make his way towards Toad's voice, but kept stepping on balloons causing them to pop. The balloons covered the inside of the house too. Toad was trapped in the living room, standing on the couch. Not only were the floors covered in water balloons, but also the walls and even the ceilings. Occasionally, a water balloon fell from the ceiling and dropped to the ground causing putrid liquid glitter to splash everywhere.

"What happened!" Pietro fumed as he dodged a falling water balloon, only to pop three more.

"I don't know!" wailed Toad, "I was watching TV when there was a red and yellow blur and a WHOooOSH and then there were water balloons! Everywhere!"

Laughing interrupted Toad's frenzied rambling. Wally, in his Kid Flash costume, and Kurt with his holo-watch, were watching through a window and laughing as if they were watching the funniest thing on Earth.

"Why that little-" Pietro growled before speeding outside. Kurt BAMF'd away, and Wally sped off with Pietro on his heels.

Kid Flash and Quicksilver were evenly matched. The two dodged, chased, and ran around the brotherhood house, Kid Flash chucking water balloons and Quicksilver hurling obscenities. Finally, Kid Flash began to grow tired of being chased. He sped toward the spot he had prepared earlier. Quicksilver, focused on catching Kid Flash, didn't see the trap coming. He got his foot caught on the tripwire that Kid Flash had specifically set up earlier and went flying through the dirt, landing on his face.

"HA! Zat vill teach you not to mess vith ze X-MEN!" Kurt yelled, as he appeared in front of Quicksilver, along side Kid Flash.

Embarrassed, Pietro glared at the X-man and the other speedster.

"YEAH! And don't mess with the YOUNG JUSTICE TEAM either!" Kid Flash taunted.

"Who?" Kurt asked, confused.

"Never mind. Let's get out of here." Kid Flash said, and he ran off.

As Night Crawler BAMF'd away, Quicksliver heard Toad's voice

"UMM, HELP! I'M STILL TRAPPED IN FRONT OF THE T.V.! WAIT… I'M TRAPPED IN FRONT OF THE T.V.? THIS IS GREAT!"

Quicksilver groaned. Someone had to clean-up the water balloons, and he doubted Toad would do it.

 _'If the X-Men think that the brotherhood will stand for this, then they have never been so wrong.'_ Quicksilver thought darkly

 **1st-off -Every one loves a good prank war. If you know any outlandish or realistically impossible pranks, let me know!**

 **2nd off- I've always loved Night Crawler, but I can't decide if this will include Kurtmanda or Kurtty.**

 **3rdly- I think this is the longest chapter so far!**

 **GUACAMOLE AND SALSA FOR EVERYBODY!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13…**

 **I'm so sorry I was a week late, guys. But good news- My laptop is fixed!**

 **Wally**

It had been a day since Wally and Kurt's prank on the Brotherhood. Artemis had not approved of the two pranksters actions. On arriving back at the mansion Wally and Kurt had decided not to mention it in the presence of the teachers. Still, it had lifted the student's hearts to hear about the fantastic prank Wally and Kurt pulled.

Artemis remained completely focused on trying to 'escape' from the world of the X-Men, or the X-Dimension, as Wally started to call it. There hadn't been a single trace of any inter-dimensional portals since Artemis's arrival, and Artemis was starting to worry.

Wally liked the X-Men, but that didn't mean that he wanted to stay in the X-dimension forever.

Wally had convinced Artemis to take a break from worrying and enjoy spending time together. The young couple sat in the middle of a long green field, watching the X-Men train with Wolverine on the edge of the woods.

The grounds of the Xavier institute were huge and secluded; perfect for practicing powers away from the judgmental eyes of the public. But from where Wally and Artemis were sitting, they had a good view of Wolverine's ¨training" techniques

From what Wally could tell, the students seemed to be evading capture by Wolverine. Or at least, attempting to evade capture.

Wolverine had arrived back at the mansion that morning, sullen and unapproachable. Business as usual. Wally had heard the students talking about a bar fight in which a brawl between Wolverine and larger, hairier man had put two innocent bystanders in the hospital and burned down the bar. It was no wonder that Wally was beginning to question Wolverine's credibility as a teacher. Luckily, the Professor had smoothed things over with a combination of ¨generous donations¨ and ¨mental persuasion¨ (bribery and mind manipulation).

As Wally and Artemis sat on the lawn, enjoying being together, Wally waved at a group of students, who animatedly waved back. Despite the grieving caused by Jean's death and the attack by the brotherhood, the students had warmed up to Wally, and some of the younger recruits had even started to look up to him.

Artemis sat in complete silence, not really watching the proceedings. She had not connected with any of the students. Artemis had examined the inter-dimensional signaling device everyday with almost religious devotion, but to no avail. She wished she had some of Blue Beetle's or Night Wing's technological know-how.

Artemis frowned as she contemplated how to get home

Wally noticed the worry on Artemis's face and said,

"Forge working on a way to get us home."

The day before, Wally and Artemis had shown the inter-dimensional signaling device to Forge, a mutant who had an unnatural way with technology

Wally flashed back to meeting Forge,

 _A group of X-men had gone to visit Forge at his parent's house, and Wally and Artemis had tagged along. Much like the X-Mansion, the rooms were well-furnished on the ground level, but the basement was decked out in high-tech devices._

" _Hey dudes!" A young Latino with a mullet said, excited to see the X-Men._

 _He turned to see Artemis and Wally_

" _New Recruits? Radical?" he exclaimed_

 _Wally ignored the obviously out-dated language. The X-dimension had stranger things to offer than a guy with 90's hair and slang._

" _Actually, we were hoping you could help us with..." Wally started to speak but trailed off when he saw Forge's mechanical arm._

 _Starting at the elbow it turned to silver metal that branched off into different tools._

" _Oh sorry, I can change it back." Forge said, and his arm whizzed and made other metallic sounds until it shifted into a human arm._

" _You just remind me of a friend of mine." Wally said sadly._

 _Artemis placed her hand on Wally's shoulder, knowing he was thinking of Blue Beetle. Wally cheered up again._

" _Your arm is really cool! You don't have to hide it around me or Artemis. I'm Wally by the way."_

 _The two boys shook hands._

" _Actually, our friend built this, but it broke, and we were hoping you could fix it." Artemis said, handing the inter-dimensional signaller to Forge._

 _Forge oogled at the device_

" _Whoa, is this a-" Forge yelled_

 _Wally cut him off quickly._

" _We were hoping you could keep this private." He said, motioning to the other various mutants and X-Men who were hanging around Forge's lab._

 _Forge nodded and lowered his voice_

" _This is obviously some kind of traceable Inter-dimensional gadget… are you, um, not from around here?" Forge gestured with his metallic hand as he spoke._

 _Wally and Artemis glanced at each other and nodded._

" _Yeah, but we don't want to make a big deal about it. The professor said we could trust you though."_

 _Forge laughed._

" _I understand being trapped in another dimension. Been there, done that. At least you two have each other." he said._

" _So, can you fix it?" Artemis asked carefully_

" _Sure thing, dudes." Said Forge with a smile._

 _Forge had taken lots of notes and measurements of the device and given it back to Artemis, telling her that he didn't think that the device was broken._

" _I think that it's functioning fine as a signaler. The problem is that there is nothing on the other end responding to it."_

Wally came back to the present when he heard Artemis's reply.

"That is not what's bothering me." She said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I know we'll get home. We always find a way."

"So what is it then?"

"I'm afraid of what we will find when we get home. There are only a few reasons that the team wouldn't have rescued us by now, and none of them are good." Artemis admitted

"Or maybe…" Wally said, playing his girlfriend's ponytail, "The machine broke, and they're just fixing it. Or maybe they thought we would want some alone time once we found each other again."

He tried to stay serious but broke into a grin

Artemis brushed him off.

"Why can't you take this seriously?" She growled, getting a little annoyed.

"You just said that you have faith in us." Wally replied with a smile. "I simply have faith in the rest of the team too."

Artemis let self have a small smile. Wally had a point. At that moment, Wolverine walked up to the couple and said,

"Hey lovebirds, think you could help us out?"

Wolverine was an imposing figure, normally he did not ask for help.

"I guess. What do you need help with?" Artemis asked.

"Some of our recruits question the importance of hand-to-hand combat skills." He explained "I was hoping you could show them that you can't just rely on your powers all the time."

Rhane Sinclair, one of the New X-Men who could shift into a wolf, stood with her arms crossed. Her friend Roberto, who could absorb the sun's power, watched nervously as Wolverine returned with Wally and Artemis.

"Wolfsbane!" Roberto was saying hurriedly, calling Rhane by her code name "I knew you shouldn't have talked back to the teacher! What if we lose points because-"

"You worry too much, Sunny Spot." Rhane laughed "I don't need to know hand-to-hand because when I'm a wolf, I don't even have hands!"

Wolverine interrupted their conversation.

"Sunspot, Wolfsbane, I was hoping you could go a few rounds with Artemis here." He said motioning to the blonde dressed in green.

Artemis smiled. She hadn't been paying much attention to the training earlier, but she recognized the two mutants and was already formulating a plan on how to defeat them. It felt good to get into battle mode after several suspenseful days of waiting.

For a second, wally stiffened. The thought of his girlfriend taking on two mutant worried him. Then, he saw her slight smile and remembered that his girlfriend was no damsel in distress. Artemis got into a defensive stance as Sunspot and Wolfsbane took their places in front of her. The other mutants in Wolverine's class gathered around in a semi-circle, which attracted a rapidly growing crowd. Whispers, bets, and speculation ran throughout the crowd of young mutants- none of them had seen Artemis in action before and were interested to see how she would handle Sunspot and Wolfsbane.

"Uh, Artemis, are you going to get your bow?" Wally asked nervously.

"Wolverine said hand-to-hand combat, not hand-to-weapon." She replied smoothly

Wally's eyes widened.

"But Artemis, you don't have any powers, and these guys are…"

Artemis shut her boyfriend up with a death-glare.

She didn't need powers, or a bow to defend herself. Green Arrow and Black Canary made sure of that. Especially after Wally's death.

"What were you saying about having faith in me?" She asked sarcastically.

Wolfsbane could not help thinking

'So _Artemis doesn't have any powers? I'll go easy.'_

"Begin." Came Wolverine's voice.

Wolfsbane morphed into a large brown wolf and launched herself at Artemis who dodged out of the way, expecting the charge. Sunspot started glowing made a feeble attempt to punch Artemis with his sunlight-enhance strength. Quickly, Artemis grabbed his arm and twisting it around at a painful angle, pushed downward.

CRUNCH

Sunspot may have been super strong, but joints could still be manipulated.

"OWW!" Sun Spot yelled, cradling his limp arm.

He started to glow brighter and flew out of Artemis's reach. Wolfsbane started circling the blond, more wary of her attacker.

The other students murmured in surprise and admiration.

"She's so hot." Wally said dreamily as he watched his girlfriend fight.

This time Wolfsbane attempted to get a hold on Artemis's arm, but as the large wolf's jaws got close, Artemis executed a perfect roundhouse kick that caught Wolfsbane in the face. The large wolf was stunned for a second, so Artemis took her chance to pin the dog to the ground with one knee on it's chest. Artemis was able to effectively hold Wolfsbane jaws away, neutralizing the threat of being bitten.

Suddenly, Sunspot body slammed Artemis from behind actually causing her to fly through the air. She landed on the ground. There was a trickle of blood coming from her lip. She was motionless.

"Artemis!" Wally cried.

Several other students gasped and pressed in towards the seemingly unconscious girl. Wolverine however, did not move. Instead he continued to observe the scene with eyes narrowed.

Rhane shifted back into her human form and Sunspot de-energized. The two teens ran up to Artemis and knelt at her side.

"Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry! Are you OK-"

Sunspot was cut off as Artemis shot up and grabbed Sunspot, throwing him at Rhane, who was also quite by surprise, the mutants were unable to activate his powers fast enough. And without their powers ready, it took Artemis only a few seconds to beat them.

"Don't underestimate your opponent. And never let your guard down." Artemis said in a voice as cold as steel

"OW!" Sunspot whined as he twisted his arm out of a painful position.

"That's enough." Came Wolverine's gruff voice, "We don't want you breaking the students."

Artemis shrugged and help Sunspot up.

"It's just twisted." she said. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I've missed watching her do that." Wally joked.

Cheered up by the victory, Artemis joked back

"Really? Because most of the time I am doing 'that' to you."

Rhaine warily approached Artemis, and their eyes met. A moment of respect passed between the two, and the girls shook hands tentatively. "You're really good." Rhaine said, "How did you know how to take me down?"

Rhaine seemed to hold no ill-will against the blond archer.

Artemis shrugged and said,

"It pays to be prepared for anything."

A shadow passed over the group, and Wally heard an unfamiliar voice

"I couldn't agree more."

 **1st off- Hmmm… I wonder who this mysterious stranger could be?**

 **2nd off-**

 **Redhead friend: WOW. A whole chapter of WALLY.**

 **Me: Is this too much Wally?**

 **Redhead friend: You sure seem obsessed.**

 **Me: But I LOVE wally.**

 **Redhead friend: This is too much of a good thing.**

 **Me: *starts throwing tantrum* NO! NEVER TOO MUCH WALLY!**

 **Redhead friend: Now that I think about it, this chapter was mostly about Artemis.**

 **Me: YES! I SHIP WALLY AND ARTEMIS!**

 **Redhead friend: I didn't ask about-**

 **Me: WARTEMIS! Wally + Artemis= WART-E-MIS.**

 **Redhead friend: *sigh* If you did have any followers, they're gone now.**


	15. Chapter 14

**JEAN**

Jean was alone, in her cell. She knew that she should be worried about escaping, the phoenix, or the people who had captured her, but instead she was bored. She was worried, but after spending a day locked in her tiny cell, she was mostly bored. It was funny how laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling drained the adrenaline from her capture by these new super-powered foes.

Out of the blue, the door to her cell opened, and a strange looking man walked in.

He was completely bald with green skin and had a colorful X strapped across his chest. He practically dripped telepathic power. Was he a mutant?

Jean found herself wanting to trust this being. Maybe it was the telepathic aura that reminded her of the professor.

"Why do you have the X on your chest?" Jean asked, not sure what else to say.

The green man looked a little surprised.

"That is not the question that most people ask first. I am the Martian Manhunter." he said in a deep voice. "I have been sent to give you a telepathic analysis."

Jean winced. So she was right about the telepathic part, but she was not expecting the "martian" bit.

"I- I don't think that will turn out too well." Jean said shakily.

"You would resist?" Martian Manhunter asked calmly.

"No, not me." Jean murmured, almost too quietly to hear.

Manhunter 's eyes became distant, as if he was communicating telepathically with someone. When his eyes focused again, he said gently

"I am going to remove the collar. If you try to attack me, I will make this very unpleasant. "

Reaching out, Martian Manhunter carefully unlatched the collar from around Jean's neck.

"These doors," he continued, gesturing to the cell doors, "Will not unlock unless the collar is on. So don't try anything."

"Please, you have to be careful. I can't control… my abilities." Jean begged, as she felt power flood through her body.

The Phoenix was taking over again.

The Martian Manhunter looked skeptical, as if he was confident that he could handle her.

"I am a very experienced telepath. I must begin now." he said without any emotion.

"NO, wait!" Jean said, unwilling to let her mind be invaded by a strangers.

The two locked eyes, and Jean found herself trying to resist his mental probing. Her powers, however, were occupied with holding back the Phoenix. The Manhunter broke through Jean's mental barrier and began to search her memories. At the intrusion, The Phoenix flared out. It purged Jean's mind with physic fire, seeking out and destroying anything that was foreign. The Manhunter recoiled in agony, his weakness for fire making him especially vulnerable.

' _No!'_ Jean screamed as the Phoenix tried to kill the alien. Creating a mental shield, Jean was able to keep the phoenix from killing Manhunter, but the alien's mind was severely damaged. Trying to keep the Phoenix at bay was too taxing for Jean's mind. She knew that she had to find a way to suppress its power before it destroyed Martian Manhunter- and her.

As Jean struggled with her internal demons, she wondered why Martian Manhunter's colleagues had not stopped the mental battle yet. Jean figured that she was being monitored by at least one other super-hero (This "Justice League" didn't seem to be the type to take chances). If there were any other JLA members watching, they probably wanted to barge in and save Manhunter, but could not open the doors because Jean's collar wasn't on. And the door would not unlock unless the collar was on. With the doors automatically locked, there was no way to rescue Manhunter- short of destroying Jean's cell. Not unless...

The collar.

Jean's gaze drifted to the collar in Manhunter's hand. She lunged for the collar, feeling the Phoenix try to take hold of the temporary distraction. In barely enough time, Jean snapped the inhibitor collar around her neck. It made a beeping noise, and Jean felt the Phoenix's power fade.

Martian Manhunter collapsed on the floor, and the doors automatically unlocked. A red and yellow blur flashed into the room, removing the alien and re-locking the doors.

Jean was alone, in her cell, again.

 **Impulse**

Night Wing had resolved his conflicts with the rest of the team. That was what Impulse had assumed, because out of the blue, Kaldur, M'gann, and Connor, had arrived and seemed to be on board with the plan.

"Uh, Night Wing," Impulse asked uncertainly, "What is the plan?"

Night Wing had gathered Blue Beetle, Impulse, and the three other young Justice teammates in Central City, outside of the meta-human prison known as The Pipeline. The Pipeline looked unimpressive on the outside, but on the inside, it house many dangerous super criminals.

"The Justice League only sees Jean as a threat. But she's our only link to Wally and Artemis, so we need talk to her. Interrogate her, if necessary." Night Wing explained.

The other team members nodded in agreement.

"Martian Manhunter and The Flash are interrogating Jean now." said Night Wing "Once we are inside, we need a distraction to give me and M'gann some time alone with Jean."

"If you want distracted, you've found the right guy" Said Impulse proudly, then continued "Wait… what if I want to be the one who does the interrogating? Remember when Aqualad interrogated those two spies from Bialya? He said next time I could do the interrogation, and-"

"Can we just go in already?" Connor asked in annoyance.

"Link us up, M'gann." commanded Night Wing.

Impulse felt a familiar tingle as his mind connected with his five teammates.

The young Justice team (especially Connor) sighed collectively as they felt the incessant ramblings of Impulse invade their minds.

' _They want distracted? I'll show them- squirrel!'_

The group headed into the prison, Night Wing flashing a pass at anybody who questioned them. Impulse thought that the costumes they were wearing was probably enough. After all, some of the sidekicks had become rather recognizable after recent events.

The group found The Flash standing outside of a cell, watching its prisoner on a monitor. Martian Manhunter was inside, talking to the prisoner. Impulse hadn't seen her since when she first came into their dimension. The girl, Jean, was about eighteen. She wasn't wearing a torn yellow spandex suit anymore, but her long, luscious red hair made her instantly identifiable.

"Uncle J'onn!" cried M'gann as she caught sight of her uncle on the moniter.

"Oh, hey kids." said The Flash absent-mindedly. "Manhunter just went in. He's gonna analyze Jean's telepathic abilities and memories. Maybe there'll be memories of W- You know who."

Ever since Night Wing had brought up the possibility that Kid Flash might be alive, The Flash had been acting edgier and more irritable than usual. Maybe it was guilt, regret, or anger. Perhaps it was just a lack of sleep. Or all of those things.

In the cell, Martian Manhunter was saying,

"I am going to remove the collar. If you try to attack me, I will make this very unpleasant. "

Reaching out, Martian Manhunter carefully unlatched the collar from around Jean's neck.

"Don't worry." The Flash said as he saw the sidekick's concerned looks. "These doors don't open unless that collar is on her. That chamber could hold Superman, and has a power dampener that should block her abilities."

"Should?" Superboy asked sarcastically

Jean was talking now.

"Please, you have to be careful. I can't control… my abilities." Jean begged.

' _I watched the video footage of her battle with Superman._ ' Miss Martian communicated telepathically to the group. ' _She was trained. Trained well and extremely powerful.'_

' _But I don't think she's lying.'_ Night Wing said. ' _I observed her closely in the days previous to the battle. Very closely.'_

' _Dude. Creepy.'_ Impulse thought

After glaring at Impulse (And Blue Beetle, who was snickering) Night Wing continued

' _During the confrontation with Superman, it was almost like there was another person in her body.'_

"I am a very experienced telepath. I must begin now." Martian Manhunter said to the redhead.

"NO, wait!" Jean shrieked, with a sudden outburst of emotion.

The two locked eyes, and their bodies stiffened. Impulse knew he was watching an intense fight not on the physical level, but the mental. Suddenly, Martian Manhunter began to groan in pain. Sweat poured off his body. Impulse didn't know Martians could sweat. But Manhunter didn't move. He stayed frozen in that position.

His groans grew to screams.

"UNCLE J'ONN!" yelled M'gann.

"Get him out of there!" Aqualad said.

The Flash was furiously trying to open the cell, typing commands in super-speed into the control panel on the door.

"The collar, she has to be wearing the collar!" Said the Flash in frustration.

As Martian Manhunter's screaming intensified, Impulse realized what a bad idea this had been. M'gann was about to phase through the door when Night Wing stopped her.

"No, the power dampener! It's our last line of defense against her!"

Tears in her eyes, M'gann turned to Connor

"Please, get my uncle out of there!"

Connor hesitated, not wanting to break open the prison cell, but not wanting to refuse M'gann. Impulse was wondering what part of 'this cell could hold Superman' that superboy did not understand.

Then, with a click, the doors automatically unlocked. Fast as lightning, The Flash retrieved Martian Manhunter and re-locked the door. Nearly as fast, M'gann was at her uncle's side in a second. Martian Manhunter was in bad condition, lying limply in The Flashes arms.

"Fire…It burns"he muttered weakly

"We have to get him to the nearest hospital! I'll show you what to do when we're there." M'gann told the Flash.

The Flash sped off, carrying Martian Manhunter. M'gann prepared to follow, anger and worry etched on her beautiful green features.

' _M'gann, wait! Jean is our key to saving Wally and Artemis, remember that.'_ Night Wing called mentally.

Miss Martian gave the equivalent of a mental sigh.

' _I need to take care of my uncle.'_ was all she said before phasing through the nearest wall.

Impulse felt the mental connection snap as M'gann sped away, presumably towards the nearest hospital.

Super boy looked at his team, and then at the wall Miss Martian had phased through. Pleadingly, he turned to Night Wing.

"She needs me more than you do right now." he said.

With a simple nod from Night Wing, Super boy left as well.

Blue Beetle, Aqualad, Night Wing, Impulse were left alone outside of Jean's cell. After standing a moment in silence, Blue Beetle reached for the control panel on the door.

"Woah, woah, woah man! What the mode do ya think you're doing!?" Impulse said, speeding in between Blue Beetle and the door.

"I think this girl is being controlled." he defended

"Controlled by what?" replied Impulse "Did you even see what she just did to Martian Manhunter?"

"I- I don't know what's controlling her. But I know what it looks like when someone is being forced to act against their will." Blue Beetle said confidently.

"You must be joking?" said Aqualad in surprise

A harsh look came over blue beetle's face. One that replaced the care-free, fun-loving young man with a seasoned warrior who had seen the horrors of war.

"I don't joke about that, hermano." he said.

Aqualad looked down awkwardly, then back at Blue Beetle.

"I still don't want you going in there. Especially without telepathic back-up." he said.

"That's not your call." Blue Beetle replied edgily

"So… what do we do?" Impulse asked to no one in particular

"Didn't you guys see it?" Asked Night Wing incredulously.

All eyes turned to the tall, dark-haired, former boy-wonder.

"See what?" Impulse replied in a confused tone.

"The reason the doors unlocked was because the collar was back on Jean. She put the collar back on, by herself."

Night Wing definitely had his team's attention now.

"It's almost as if, she can't control her powers. And when she loses control of them, she becomes a completely different person. I don't quite understand it. But I think that whatever is controlling her is at the root of this behavior." Night Wing admitted

"She has the collar on now." said Blue Beetle. "I'm going in to talk to her."

No one stood in his way as he opened the cell door.

 **1st off- Yay! More chapters! You guys should, like, totally review. Like, a lot.**

 **2nd off- Poor J'onn! I always loved Martian Manhunter. He was my favorite founding member. But I love Miss Martian even more.**

 **Also, Batman. Everybody loves The Bat.**


	16. Chapter 15

**Wally**

 _Previously_

 _Artemis shrugged and said,_

 _"_ _It pays to be prepared for anything."_

 _A shadow passed over the group, and Wally heard an unfamiliar voice._

 _"_ _I couldn't agree more."_

A tall man with graying hair and a business suit was watching the practice. Artemis had not noticed his arrival. He was imposing but had an air of charisma about him. Wolverine became noticeably uncomfortable in his presence. Addressing Artemis, the man spoke again.

"I noticed you are quite skilled, young lady. If I may ask-"

Wolverine cut him off abruptly.

"She's the species you don't like Magneto. So leave her- and my students- alone."

At this, a little disgust tainted Magneto's face, but he covered it quickly and spoke calmly.

"Logan, you know that I have overcome my hatred for humans. Although I still doubt that everybody could live together in peace, I have come to accept that a some humans are… worth tolerating."

"Some humans?" muttered Kid Flash with an eyebrow raised.

Wolverine sniffed disdainfully,

"You don't have me fooled, Magneto-."

At that moment, The professor wheeled up in his chair, accompanied by Storm.

"Erik!" he said cheerfully "How kind of you to visit us again."

"Well, old friend, I am making up for lost years." Magneto said as he walked over to his old friend.

The professor and Erik wheeled and strolled respectively back towards the mansion, with Storm following behind.

Wolverine looked ready to explode.

"I don't trust that…" Wolverine stalked off, muttering less than complimentary terms under his breath.

"What's his deal?" asked Artemis to Rhane.

"Mr. Logan or Mr. Magneto? Well, Magneto can manipulate metal through magnetism. He used to be Prof.'s best friend, but he was also our enemy for the longest time. He would try to exterminate the 'inferior' humans, or end the world. We would stop him. He's even the one who started the brotherhood. " Rhane explained.

"What changed?" Wally asked curiously.

"Almost a year ago, both Magneto and the Professor almost died. We had to join forces with the brotherhood to save them, stop Apocalypse (a mutant who wanted to cause The Apocalypse), and... a bunch of other crazy stuff happened. After that, Magneto and Prof. started to get along, like they used to when they were young."

"Wow. Friend turned enemy turned friend again? Why does that sound familiar?" Wally asked

"Kind of like Kaldur?" Artemis guessed.

"Except Kaldur never actually wanted to exterminate 'inferior humans.' He was secretly on our side the whole time."

Rhane looked a little confused but brightened up when SunSpot joined the conversation.

"Magneto is also Pietro and Wanda's dad." Sunspot added.

"WHAT?" Wally asked, shocked,

"He's their dad? I mean, I knew they had parent problems, but having a super villain for a father..." he trailed off when he remembered Artemis.

Said girlfriend punched Wally in the arm. Not playfully, but an actual punch.

"They can't help who their parents are!" Artemis practically growled.

"I didn't mean it that way- Artemis come back!" Wally apologized, but Artemis had already taken off across the field.

"Is she O.K.?" Rhane asked.

The young mutant was concerned about her new found friend.

"Can't. Believe. I. Said. That." Wally said with a face-palm for emphasis, "Artemis doesn't have the best, relationship, with her parents."

he sighed and mentally added,

' _If "bad relationship" means that your dad raised you to become an assassin, your mom abandoned you during your childhood and, oh yeah, your dad is trys to kill you and your friends all the time! Because he's (with a capital "I") Insane!'_

Sometimes Wally had a tendency to go on a thought rant in his head.

Despite the fact that she wasn't a mind reader, Rhane seemed to somewhat grasp the situation.

"You are an idiot." Rhane agreed. "Go talk to her."

"What if I make things worse!?" Wally said mournfully. "Everything that I say rubs her wrong. When I arrived in Bayville, it was like I had amnesia, but Artemis remembers a whole year of me being, well, gone. A year of separation has changed our relationship…"

He stopped suddenly, realizing that he was saying his thought rant out loud.

"Wally, do you love Artemis?" Rhane asked.

Wally recoiled in surprise.

"Are you dropping the L-bomb now?"

"Answer the question."

"Uhh, I guess?" Wally felt unsure of this answer.

"It's a simple question. Yes or No answers only. Wally West, do you love Artemis?" Rhane asked pointedly

"Yes!" Wally said more enthusiastically

"Then go talk to her, you idiot. You can only fix things if both sides of the dispute admit fault and seek to reconcile."

Wally nodded, and sped after his girlfriend.

 **At the X-Mansion**

Charles Xavier sat with Eric Magnus in the foyer of the X-Mansion. Xavier was trying to probe Magneto's mind, but still could not. He resigned himself to conversation and small talk.

"How are Pietro and Wanda?" he asked politely.

"They still refuse to listen to me. I think they feel betrayed that I am spending so much time here." Magneto said with a small frown

"Could you get them to stop attacking us?" The Professor replied

"I am very sorry about that." Assured Magneto "But everything I do only alienates them further. They stopped taking orders from me a long time ago."

"It is incredibly hard to deal with children who have been estranged from you for some time."The Professor said gently.

"Speaking of, do you think it will 'estrange' any of your students that there is a non-mutant- one who is obviously dangerous- at the school?"

"I don't believe so." The Professor sighed wearily "Artemis and Wally are a bit of a special case. But even if they weren't, I would expect my students to respect them, and my decisions."

At the mention of a 'Wally' Magneto perked up.

"There are two non-mutant students? Tell me about them."

"Actually, Wally has the ability of superspeed. He is very similar to Pietro in that way. In fact, he even spent a little time with the brotherhood before he joined us at the Institute." The Professor explained

Magneto nodded as if he was confirming something in his mind.

At that moment, Artemis burst through the foyer doors. Her face was red, and Xavier could feel the anger and frustration rolling off of her.

"Artemis!" he called "Whatever is the matter?"

Artemis paused and looked away from the Professor as if she was considering walking away without answering. After a moment, she slowly walked to where The Professor and Magneto were sitting.

"Just Wally being an idiot, Professor. Nothing you or the students did."

Artemis felt uncomfortable with Magneto's steely eyes boring into her. She met them with a glaring stare of her own.

"Is there anything else?" The Professor asked.

Artemis sighed and continued, "All we have done is cause trouble. Getting Wally back was supposed to make things better, but everything has just gotten worse. I don't want to cause trouble. Wally didn't want to destroy C- anything. We don't want to drive students away."

' _We just want to go home.'_ Artemis added mentally.

The Professor saw the questioning look on Magneto's face, and the guilty and frustrated thoughts coming from Artemis.

"You know, just because Wally destroyed Cerebro does not mean that we will stop recruiting mutants." he said confidently

"What?" Asked Artemis, confused

"What?" echoed Magneto, an edge in his voice.

"After the Apocalypse incident last year, we backed up Cerebro in hard copies. It will take a bit more sorting through dusty files, but honestly, Wally did not do any harm." The Professor said.

Artemis looked a little better, but it was obvious that there was more on her mind besides guilt over a destroyed computer. Magneto on the other hand, looked annoyed and frustrated.

"So you are saying that, even though Wally destroyed Cerebro, you don't need it to get new recruits?" Magneto spoke slowly and carefully.

"Of course. Weren't we fortunate to consider that something like this might happen?" The Professor asked smugly.

"Of course." Magneto grumbled sarcastically

A red and yellow streak zipped through the room to Artemis's side. It was Wally, who Magneto had seen outside earlier.

"Artemis, I-" He began to say as he pulled her aside.

"Wally, I don't want to talk right now." Artemis said as politely as she could.

"But baby, I love you! Even if your dad, is all evil-and-out-to destroy-the-world!" Wally said.

"Not now, Wally!" Artemis insisted as she glanced over at the professor and Magneto.

The two men were watching the young couple intently. Pushing Wally away and turning on her heels, Artemis exited the foyer, leaving Wally standing there awkwardly.

' _Wally'_ called the professor mentally ' _I would suggest that you make amends with Artemis on her own terms.'_

"She, uhh, acts like that sometimes. We're fine." Wally said before speeding off.

Magneto shook his head.

"Young love."

"Those two have been through quite a bit, from what I can tell. Hopefully, they'll make it home in one piece." Xavier replied

 **Artemis**

Artemis ran all the ways up stairs and to her room. It was a nice room, but it wasn't hers, and so it did not hold much comfort. In fact, the room looked more like a hotel room, aside from where she had slept in the bed. There were even some little pens on a desk that said _'Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters_.' Artemis picked one up and sat down on her bed, twirling the pen between her fingers. It helped to fiddle with something while she thought. As Artemis collapsed on her bed, she realized a number of things.

The first was that she had meant every word she had said to the professor. 'Rescuing' Wally was supposed to be quick. It was supposed to make everything easier. It was meant to make everyone's life better, but since Wally and Artemis had come to this dimension, they had only caused trouble.

The second thing was that there was a gap between Artemis and Wally now. Artemis and her friends had spent a year trying to get over Wally's death. Only to discover he wasn't dead. During that year, Wally had been in another dimension, but seemed to have some kind of memory loss, because the last thing he remembered was destroying the chrysalis.

Artemis didn't know if Wally had been temporally displaced when he was vaporized by the chrysalis. She didn't know if Wally had indeed spent a year in this dimension but had recently gained amnesia. But Artemis did know that it created a rift between the couple. One that was not going to be easy to gap.

A tentative knock sounded on the door.

"Artemis, I know that you're pretty angry right now." Wally said through the door.

"Yeah, I'm pretty ticked." Artemis replied sassily.

"And I'm so sorry, babe." Wally continued

Artemis paused to let him continue.

' _Wow. He might actually get an apology right for once, instead of acting like a macho-man and refusing to admit that he was wrong.'_

Wally took a deep breath and continued

"But it's not really my fault that your dad is insane and tries to kill you all the time. But I get that you and your parents have problems, so I forgive you for over-reacting when I-"

"LEAVE NOW!" screamed Artemis, hurling the pen at the door.

Outside the door, Wally stood looking confused, while Rhane and Sunspot watched in shock as a pen suddenly protruded through the door.

"When I said both sides of the dispute need to admit fault and seek to reconcile, I did not mean this!" Rhane said in disgust as she turned to Sunspot.

"I was trying to get her to admit fault and reconcile." said Wally

"I'm not sure whats going on with you two, but more than time and space caused this problem." Called Rhane, and she walked off.

"I thought you had a point." said Sunspot as he sheepishly poked the tip of the firmly wedged ball point pen.

Artemis had really passionate feelings about Wally. Sometimes those feelings were love, but most of the time they were extreme annoyance. As Artemis rolled over on her bed, she saw a figure move by the window.

"It's not my fault my father is evil." Artemis called out in anger.

"Aww, Baby girl, you think I'm evil?" That's a little harsh."

Artemis was out of bed and in a fighting stance in a split second.

"Speak of the devil. Sportsmaster." Artemis said slowly.

 **1st off- On that note, happy Father's day! Tell your dad's/grandpa's/father figure's how much you love them.**

 **2nd off- R-E- to the V-I-E-W. What does that spell? Review! Thank you to those who have reviewed! It makes my day!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Hi guys! I'm sorry that I was so late! I have no excuse.**

 **Just read the new chapter.**

 **Blue Beetle**

 _Previously_

" _It's almost as if, she can't control her powers. And when she loses control of them, she becomes a completely different person. I don't quite understand it." Night Wing continued_

" _She has the collar on now." said Blue Beetle."I'm going in to talk to her."_

 _No one stood in his way as he opened the cell door._

Blue Beetle swung the door open dramatically, only to see a small form curled up on the floor. Jean raised her head and met Blue Beetle's gaze. Even though he knew that Jean could not use her powers, The blue-armored teen still felt uncomfortable under her stare.

"Um, hi." Blue Beetle said feebly.

Jean just raised an eyebrow. Night Wing quickly followed Blue Beetle, shutting the door and standing behind his friend as intimidatingly as possible. Blue Beetle turned to his leader for guidance, but Night Wing only nodded as if saying,

' _You're the one who marched in here so confidently five seconds ago."_

"So...you kind of attacked Martian Manhunter…" Blue Beetle said (in a very not confident way).

Jean actually replied this time.

"I tried to tell him about the-" she sounded genuinely worried but cut herself off mid-sentence.

"About the what?" Asked Blue Beetle.

Blue Beetle tried to move closer to Jean, but she flinched away. At first, he thought it was because his strange appearance frightened her. Then, he realized that Jean did not look like a frightened damsel in distress. She had taken up an almost defensive stance, as if she was gearing up for a fight.

Jean did not trust the JLA or the team, a luxury afforded by most civilians, and even most of the criminals that Blue Beetle knew.

People trusted the Justice League like they did the police or firefighters.

But not this red-head.

' _Maybe she has had a bad experience with superheros, or people with powers. After all, the first time she met Superman was in battle against him.'_ Blue Beetle thought, ' _Maybe she just needs a good experience with superheros.'_

"It's alright. We don't want anybody to get hurt. We're trying to protect people, 'cause we're the good guys. We think everybody deserves justice." he assured.

For a second Night Wing's intimidating "bat-glare" even softened. Jean started to loosen up, as if she was less scared.

The moment was interrupted by the very thing that gave Blue Beetle his abilities, the scarab.

' _I would suggest an aggressive action as the most efficient option.'_ the scarab's metallic voice suddenly suggested. ' _The optimal choice being torture-'_

"Shut up!" Groaned Blue Beetle.

Night Wing face-palmed, knowing what was happening.

"Excuse me?" asked Jean, who assumed the comment was meant for her.

' _My advice is perfectly appropriate for an interrogation.'_ The Scarab said in an almost offended tone.

Ignoring Jean's confusion, Blue Beetle retorted angrily to the scarab.

"This isn't the time or place"!

"Are you okay?" Jean asked slowly inching away from the blue suited beetle.

But the scarab kept making snarky remarks, annoying Blue Beetle and confusing Jean. Outside the prison cell, the other teen heroes were watching.

"Is Night Wing going to help Blue out?" Impulse asked as the internal argument between Blue and the Scarab escalated.

Aqualad shrugged. One never quite knew what Night Wing was going to do. Luckily, Night Wing took over the conversation as Blue Beetle muttered angrily to himself about torture methods.

"We want to hear your side of the story. Could you tell us why you attacked Superman, and then Martian Manhunter?" Night Wing said.

Jean looked hesitant for a moment, and then nodded.

"Here's my story."

 **Jean**

Jean will admit, she was a little frightened by the strange blue man, and the imposing dark-haired figure who stood silently behind him. However, the blue armor guy had told her that he was one of the good guys. The way he said it reminded her of the professor as well.

But she was still confused when the blue guy started arguing with himself. Finally, the dark-haired one who was dressed in black and blue (and seemed more like a natural leader) started talking to her. His demeanor was intense and calculating, as if he had spent years perfecting his ice cold glare.

"We want to hear your side of the story. Could you tell us why you attacked Superman, and then Martian Manhunter?" The leader was saying.

Jean hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

"Here's my story." She began.

She told them about how she grew up in Bayville. About how she had discovered that she had powers. She mentioned that there were other mutants, but didn't say anything about the Professor, the Institute, or even Magneto. She told them about about finding a "mysterious door" and going through it. She explained that she had lost control of her powers, then wandered the unfamiliar streets for 'awhile' before being confronted by Superman, and being sent to prison. She told them that she hadn't meant to hurt anybody.

All throughout her story, she also played the "innocent teenage girl" card, hoping it would buy her some sympathy.

When Jean finished, she felt unsure of her story. It was mostly truths, but she left out a few key facts, like the Phoenix Force and Xavier's Institute. Jean thought that her interrogators probably didn't believe her half-baked story. She wouldn't. Yet at the end of her story, the tall dark leader thanked her for her cooperation, grabbed the strange blue man and left the cell.

But the exit of the two strangers didn't feel final. Somehow, even with her powers inhibited, Jean knew that they would be back.

 **Night Wing**

Night Wing exited the small prison cell with Blue Beetle in tow. Aqualad and Impulse were sitting solemnly by the monitor- they had watched the entire conversation between Night Wing, Blue Beetle and Jean.

"Ya know," said Impulse offhandedly, "Actually talking to criminals and not just trying to intimidate them through mind manipulation is a good idea."

Aqualad nodded.

"Once you showed her that you were willing to just talk to her, she opened up and told us a lot."

"Yeah, she doesn't seem like a criminal to me." agreed Blue Beetle.

Night Wing was silent for a minute, but then said simply.

"I think we should help her."

"What? How!" Exclaimed the three other superheros in unison.

"Everything she told us was the truth. I could tell that much. but she left out a lot of important details."

Now Kaldur was nodding.

"Yes, now that I think about it, there were a few holes in her story." He said

"But if we can get Jean to trust us, she'll open us to us even more, and will be able to help us get Wally and Artemis back." Night Wing stated.

"But how is this gir- I mean, Jean, supposed to help us get Wally and Artemis back?" Impulse asked, confused.

"Jean traveled through the portal seconds after Artemis did. She must have seen something If anyone help us get Artemis back, its Jean."

"So what do we do?" Asked Blue Beetle.

"We break her out." Night Wing said confidently.

" Crash! I was hoping you would say that." Replied Impulse excitedly.

"Slow down, did you really just say that? We break her out?" Aqualad said in awe "She doesn't seem like a criminal, but that doesn't mean we can let her walk around free!"

"We won't." Said Nightwing confidently. "She can stay somewhere we can keep an eye on her, like Mt. Justice or the cave."

"Because NOBODY, least of all, BATMAN, will notice that we're hiding a wanted criminal in the batcave." exclaimed Blue Beetle sarcastically.

"We should take our findings to the league. They will know what to do with this new information." Said Aqualad

Night Wing sighed.

"Normally I would. But the team is already on probation. The JLA won't listen."

"Because of the rash actions you made!" Aqualad insisted.

"I have a plan to get Wally and Artemis back. But we need Jean!" Night Wing replied, his voice rising

"You have a tendency to become short-sighted when a situation involves Wally. The first time you tried a plan like this, we lost Artemis as well!" Aqualad said angrily.

I know that I messed things up! That's why I'm trying to fix them!" Night Wing yelled at Aqualad.

Clearly the tension over Artemis's loss and Night Wing's faulty decisions had not dissipated as quickly as they thought it had.

Impulse and Blue Beetle shrank back, unwilling to choose between the two authority figures of the team that they both respected so much.

Aqualad was silent for a moment. He looked down to the ground, then back up to glare at Night Wing.

"I see that I cannot stop you in this foolishness." He said slowly. "So as your teammate, and your friend, I will do the best I can to ensure that you do not fail."

Night Wing wasn't fooled by Aqualad's complacent tone. He knew that this was not submission on his atlantean friend's part: this was Aqualad giving Night Wing one more chance to prove himself.

Impulse and Blue Beetle had been involved in the plot to save Wally while Aqualad was not. Like everybody else, the Atlantean found out the hard way when Night Wing's plan failed. For a split second, Night Wing realized that Aqualad might not just feel angry, but left out of the loop as well.

"Sooooo… Are we breaking someone out of prison or not?" Asked Impulse awkwardly to interrupt the silence.

Night Wing nodded swiftly and began barking out orders while Aqualad struggled to act as if nothing had gone down between the two.

"Blue, wipe the audio and video surveillance system, all the way back to when Jean attacked Manhunter. Impulse, I need you to do a perimeter sweep and see if there are any other Leaguers or prisoners in the area."

Blue Beetle and Impulse sped off to do their assorted tasks while Night Wing entered Jean's cell once again, this time followed by Aqualad.

When the two entered, Jean looked up calmly as if she had been expecting them.

"So do you believe me?" She asked questioningly.

Night Wing nodded and replied,

"Yes. But the people we work for, the League, won't let you go free. So we're going to get you out of here."

Jean's eyes lit up for a second, but then dimmed as the hopefulness was replaced with pecismissim.

"What do you want in return?"

"We want to get you home." Night Wing replied smoothly and sympathetically.

"You guys are doing this out of the goodness of your hearts? Because you're heros?" Jean asked as if she didn't believe a word she was saying.

To Night Wing's surprise, Kaldur stepped up to speak to Jean.

"We lost two of our friends in your world, and we want them back more than anything. Just as much as your friends and family surely want you back. That's why we're doing this."

The last sentence was directed more at Night Wing than at Jean. Almost imperceptibly, Night Wing dipped his head in understanding.

Jean looked thoughtful for a moment, then she said,

"I think I understand. You guys want to get your friends back, and getting me home would help you do that. Deal. But I'm not exactly experienced at breaking out of prison."

Aqualad pulled Night Wing aside and conferred with him privately.

"We can't take Jean back to the cave, Mt. Justice, or even your apatment." he said to Night Wing "The leaguers and the other team members would immediately find her and return her to prison."

"I know a place." Night Wing replied.

 **I'm back**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Wally**

Wally was walking dejectedly through the hallway, wondering if he should try to talk to Artemis again. He was staring down at his shoes when he bumped into another person.

"Oh, sorry!" Wally apologized.

"Don't mind." the stranger replied.

The stranger was a girl- a pretty girl. Wally had seen her around the institute before, but had never actually talked to her. She was petite with long brown hair and mischievous blue eyes, but at that moment, her eyes looked puffy and red, like she had just been crying.

"Looks like you're having as bad a day as me." Wally joked lamely.

"Yeah. It's just been so hard with Jean gone- you're Wally, right?" she asked.

Wally ignored the sudden change of topic, and the pang of guilt that accompanied it.

' _Jean's not dead.'_ Wally thought.

He wanted to comfort the girl, but instead he just nodded.

"Yeah, Wally West."

The girl (Wally was starting to wish that he knew her name) searched Wally's face intently.

"Why is your day so bad?" she asked after a moment.

"Oh, just relationship issues." Wally replied."Its probably nothing compared to your problems."

"Come on, tell me." the girl begged, her blue eye's brightening. "It will take my mind off Jean. And if I can help you fix your problem, that's one less sad person in the world."

Wally shrugged, and went on to tell the girl about his "relationship issues" with Artemis, omitting the part about how they were from another dimension.

 _TIME SKIP_

The two wandered the hallways talking for a couple of hours before eventually making their way outside to the garden.

The girl wasn't a very good listener: she kept interjecting with stray comments and laughter. Sometimes the girl talked so fast that Wally would not have been able to understand her if he was not a speedster. But as his narration came to a close, Wally felt relieved, like talking to this girl lifted a weight off his shoulders.

"That sounds pretty complicated. But my love-life was pretty interesting last year. I dated this guy named Lance Alvarez. It took me awhile to realize he was sort of a jerk." the girl was saying, as they stood outside in the garden, watching the sun dip closer to the horizon.

"You're Lance's ex-girlfriend!?" Wally practically shouted in surprise.

"Yeah." The girl laughed, "Omgoodness I never introduced myself! I'm Kitty."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Kitty." Wally said very formally, bowing and holding up Kitty's hand to his lips.

"Wow! You weren't joking when you said you were 'good' with the ladies!"

For a second, Wally's smile faltered.

"Yep. All the ladies except for Artemis."

Kitty sighed and grabbed Wally's shoulders. Wally couldn't help but marvel at how gentle and comforting her touch felt compared to Artemis, who was usually punching Wally.

"Pull yourself together Wally! If Artemis is as special as you make her out to be, then she'll come back to you eventually. And if she can't see what an amazing guy you are then she's just as much of an idiot as you!" Kitty said fiercely.

"You think I'm amazing?" Wally blurted.

He suddenly realized how close Kitty was standing to him, and how much better he felt since he had started talking to her. The sunlight caught her hair and made it glow, her face lit up with a passion. Almost unknowingly, he leaned closer to her, leaning his arm subtly around her.

Kitty almost jumped away when she realized that Wally was trying to hit on her.

"Not like that you idiot." Kitty rolled her eyes, "You're cute, but-"

"I'm cute?!" Wally interjected, now he was blushing beet red.

Kitty twirled her hair between her fingertips.

"I like my men blue and fuzzy." she almost whispered.

"Oh." Wally sounded dejected.

Kitty pulled Wally into a hug couldn't but help thinking,

' _Is this a "pity-hug?" Ouch.'_

"I know we just met today, but we're still friends, right?" she said into his ear.

'Double _Ouch.'_ Wally thought to himself again. ' _I've just been friend-zoned. HARD.'_

The two separated, and the teens fidgeted awkwardly for a moment. As the edge of the sun disappeared on the horizon, and Kitty said,

"Wally, you might fight with her, or even have crushes on other people, but don't kid yourself; You'll always love Artemis."

 **Artemis**

 _Previously_

" _It's not my fault my father is evil." Artemis called out in anger_

" _Aww, Baby girl, you think I'm evil?" That's a little harsh."_

 _Artemis was out of bed and in a fighting stance in a split second._

" _Speak of the devil. Sportsmaster." Artemis said slowly_

Artemis's mind instantly jumped to a thousand conclusions. Was this a doppelganger of her father that lived in the X-dimension? No, Artemis hadn't met any doppelgangers yet, and he had called her baby girl. But if Sportsmaster was here and not the JLA or the team, that meant…

"You have the portal device?" Artemis asked in awe.

"Yeah. We do." Sportsmaster replied with a cruel smile.

"We? As in plural? So Lexcorp has the portal device then." Artemis concluded.

With that, her heart sunk a little. Dealing solely with her father was one thing, but dealing with Lex Luthor was entirely another monster.

"I was thinking about letting you live. Even though I'm under strict orders to kill anyone who could stop us." Sportsmaster admitted snidely.

"By 'Us' you mean Luthor, right?"

"I don't like that tongue, girl. So maybe I'll do myself a favor and get rid of you, the only person who has any experience dealing with Lexcorp in this dimension." With those foreboding words, Sportsmaster inched closer to his daughter.

"There is powerful telepath here. He will have sensed you by now." Artemis replied calmly.

Sportsmaster held up a wristwatch.

"I came prepared: power dampener." he said with a smile. "Blocks any powers in a few meters radius. Can even keep telepaths from detecting me... Useless on you and I, of course. The best part is, the metas won't even notice. Not until it's too late."

Artemis's brow furrowed- this technology would probably be just as effective on the students and teachers of the institute.

"Wait. You are here alone, but well equipped. My guess is that you're here to scout out this Earth, find any people of interest for your boss: Lexcorp." Artemis guessed.

Sportsmaster nodded in confirmation.

Artemis continued, "I know a way to do that, but I need these people's trust. So give me a few weeks. You'll have a list of every mutant (meta) on the planet" she said "Then you can invade or experiment or do whatever the heck you want."

"Since when did you become so despicable, sweetheart?" Sportsmaster laughed.

Her face blank and emotionless, Artemis replied,

"My boyfriend died."

For a split second, Sportsmaster twitched.

"So he didn't make it." he said, his voice a trifle softer.

Perhaps Sportsmaster really did care about his daughter somewhere in the black recesses of his soul.

Inwardly, Artemis sighed in relief.

' _My father doesn't know that Wally is alive.'_ she thought to herself

Then, Sportsmasters eyes hardened and he said,"Good riddance. Never liked that brat. But I know you Artemis. What's your price? This isn't a random act of kindness."

"After all this is over, take me home, and leave me, Mom, Jade, and everyone I love, alone."

Sportsmaster stared for a second before saying,

"You do my dirty work for me? It's my dream come true. Deal."

He walked back towards Artemis and grabbed her hand to shake. Artemis returned the handshake, but felt a small stab in her wrist as she did so. She yanked her wrist away quickly and backed up in fear. Sportsmaster held up a small needle. Jumping away with her back to the bed, she instantly got into a fighting position. What did you do to me!?" She yelled.

A burning sensation sprouted in Artemis's wrist, and began working it's way up her arm.

"More of Lexcorp's amazing technology. Honestly didn't think I'd be using it on you though." He laughed.

The burning sensation kept worming its way up Artemis's arms and into the rest of her body.

"I shouldn't have trusted you!" Artemis spat.

"It's for your own good." Sportsmaster assured her ," It's power-dampening nanotech. I was going to use it to temporarily disable the powers of the said 'persons of intrest.' But for you, it should stop those pesky telepaths. If anything, I've just given you an advantage."

Artemis realized she had tensed up during the conversation with her dad. She began to unwillingly relax and sink down to her bed.

"Why do I feel like I just made a deal with the devil?" she muttered, her eyes growing heavy.

"Oops. And there's also the tranquilizer I added. That should kick in right… now." Sportsmaster said

Artemis collapsed back onto her bed, completely unconscious.

"Be a good little girl. I'll be watching." Sportsmaster whispered creepily before running over to the window, and dropping to the garden below. Looking around cautiously, he ghosted across the grounds, avoiding detection with the grace an skill only an assassin of his caliber has.

 _Time skip, TIMEY WIMEY SKIPPITY SKIP_

A couple of hours later as the sun was setting, Artemis returned to consciousness, albeit gradually. As soon as her mind cleared, everything that had happened flooded back to her. Artemis did not stay still for long. Jumping up out of bed she said to herself,

"I have to tell Wally about this."

Just then, her eyes caught on a shock on ginger hair. Wally was standing just beneath her window, with a brunette who Artemis recognized as Kitty. Kitty was laughing as Wally bowed and kissed her hand. Artemis froze in place, a feeling of red-hot jealousy creeping up on her. Artemis could only make out a few words they were saying.

Fortunately, lip-reading was a skill her dad had made her learn as a child. Unfortunately, Artemis was quite rusty and had not practiced in a while.

"...good with the ladies…" said Kitty

Wally's playful smile faltered for a second, and all Artemis could make out was her name,

"...except for Artemis."

Artemis was about to rush downstairs and interrupt the 'suspicious'(suspicious doesn't even begin to describe) conversation when another movement by Kitty caught her eye. Kitty actually grabbed Wally. Not in the forceful way that Artemis usually did, but gently, and tentatively.

"...yourself...Wally! If Artemis is as... you make her out to be, then... she can't see what an amazing guy you are… she's... an idiot… !" Kitty said.

Artemis had caught about half of the conversation, but that was enough for her.

"You think I'm amazing?" Wally blurted.

Artemis eye's narrowed.

Several more words were exchanged, the most noticeable of these being "cute." there was also a lot of blushing and hair twirling.

Artemis tried to convince herself that she was totally misreading the conversation, but she was having difficulty doing so.

' _I'm sure…'_ Artemis thought calmly ' _That there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.'_

Then Kitty did the unimaginable, she pulled Wally into a hug.

' _Physical contact!'_ screamed Artemis in her mind. ' _PHYSICAL CONTACT HAS BEEN INITIATED!'_

The embrace lasted for a few seconds, so Artemis could not tell what the two were saying. Before she had to watch anymore, Artemis turned away from the window hurriedly.

' _I'll do this by myself from now own.'_ She thought angrily. ' _Apparently, Wally doesn't want my help.'_

 **1st off- DRAMA!**

 **2nd off- Review! And there will be more DRAMA!**

 **3rdly- power-dampeners are my excuse of a plot twist. However, the power dampeners in this story are not all-powerful. (Or else I would dig myself a plot-hole that there is no way to climb out of)**


	19. Chapter 18

**AW YEAH! CHAPTER 18!  
Disclaimer: Trust me guys, If I buy the rights to X-Men Evolution, Young Justice or Teen Titans (yes, there will be some Titans in the upcoming chapters) I will let you all know. But for now, It's all just fan fiction. I mean, that's basically the whole point of this website, right? Anyway, if I did own these television shows, I would be giving this to the producers to make into a movie, not posting it online.**

 **I've been rambling, haven't I?**

 **Night Wing**

"Wait, so just how am I getting out of prison?" Asked Jean.

"Easy." replied Night Wing. "We'll take your collar off, and you can blast a giant hole in the prison walls. There aren't any guards or prisoners near your cell, so as long as you keep the blast as localized as possible, you'll be fine."

Jean noticed that Night Wing said "you'll," not "we'll."

'"Uh-huh." she replied, with a worried look on her face.

Night Wing signaled for Impulse, Blue Beetle, and Kaldur to leave the prison. Carefully, he lifted jean's collar from her neck. Instantly, Jean started straining as if someone had put the weight of the world on her shoulders. For a split second, Night Wing hesitated, but Jean said shakily,

"Please, Leave, I don't want.. to hurt... you."

Quickly Night Wing left the prison cell and walked into the hallway. He took a deep breath and tensed up. He Jean did not want to cause any damage, but he also knew that in order for Jean's escape to be believable, someone had to take one for the team.

A blast of cosmic fire erupted from Jean's cell, sending Night Wing flying across the room as rubble collapsed around him. He wondered vaguely if he should have gotten farther from the blast. He blinked rapidly, trying to erase the ringing in his ears. He had been far enough from the blast that he wouldn't be killed, just badly shaken up. Slowly, Night Wing stood up, wincing at a pain in his neck.

' _Probably just whiplash._ ' he thought to himself. He tried to turn his head and the pain intensified. ' _Probably.'_

Night Wing's suit was a little ripped, and he was bleeding from some shallow scrapes. There was a small piece of glass embedded in his upper arm. He walked painfully back to Jean's cell, or what was left of it.

A huge hole in the ceiling and wall and been created by the blast. Jean was nowhere to be seen. If the plan went correctly, Jean's powers would be exerted enough for them to remain at a 'controllable' level for a few days. More than enough time to get Jean to the safe-house Night Wing had in mind.

Night Wing gave Jean an quarter of an hour head-start before he called the JLA to 'report' what had happened. Night Wing heard footsteps and shrank back into a nearby hallway, unnoticed. Guards flooded into the room, some panicking while others tried to stay calm. Amidst the chaos, Night Wing wondered how he would explain away this.

 _ **WIBBIBLY WOBBILY TIMEY WIMEY SKIPPITY SKIP.**_

* * *

A day later, Night Wing, dressed in his civvies, drove up to an old abandoned tower. Out of the car hopped Jean followed by Impulse, who had the first watch in babysitting Jean. Night Wing took a little slower than usual getting out of the car, which Impulse had borrowed from Barry. The Flash, being himself, would probably not even notice his Honda was missing.

Night Wing's neck still ached, but he had dealt with worse pain. He could handle a little whiplash.

The tower was old and falling apart, and a huge chunk of the building was missing; hardly an attractive place to live.

All Jean asked was,

"Why is it shaped like a 'T?'"

Night Wing explained,

"It used to be the headquarters of a superhero group called the Teen Titans. Hence the 'T'. Anyway, It seemed like it would get destroyed and rebuilt every other week. But as the group grew up and farther apart, people began to leave. And one day, when it got destroyed, there was no one left to rebuild it."

Emotion filled Night Wing's usually calm and commanding voice.

"You were one of the Teen Titans, weren't you?" Jean asked softly.

Night Wing nodded.

"One of the originals. Anyway, it's funny how a few former titans are on my team again, but I haven't seen most of them in a long time..."

Jean couldn't but help feel a pang of sadness when she thought of Xavier's Institute ending up like Titans Tower. Would all the students leave some day, leaving the Institute nothing more than a pile of rubble?

"This. Is. SO. CRASH." Impulse shouted as he dashed into the Tower and through the halls and rooms.

With in a few seconds, he ran back out and was talking excitedly.

"I read about this in history books, but I didn't think it would ever actually see it."

Night Wing, Impulse and Jean made their way past the boarded off front doors and into the halls of the Tower. Despite the fact that it was light out, the Tower had a creepy, "haunted mansion" vibe. Jean felt that the current state of the Tower probably was not a good reflection of the team who had owned it.

Impulse ran right through a cobweb, and choked on dust that rained down from the ceiling.

"I also didn't think Titan's Tower would be so… mode-ish."

Night Wing lead them up a stair case, that was partially caved in, and showed them where a couple rooms that were still intact.

"You might have plumbing, but not electricity. There are plenty of supplies in Jump City, and with Impulse it shouldn't be to hard to stock up. I've got to go help the JL 'search' for you." He explained to Jean.

Before he left he said privately to Impulse,

"If our cover or the safe house is blown, move to plans 'J'-'N.' Alright?"

"Um, what's plan 'J' again?" The speedster asked sheepishly.

Night Wing's brow furrowed.

"I explained it four times." He said in a I-can't-kill-you-because-I-need-you-right-now tone.

"Just Kidding man!" Impulse joked, and the speedster raced off to continue to explore the tower.

Exasperated, Night Wing turned to Jean and handed her a metal collar.

"Use this if you need it, but you can't go out in public without it attracting attention, so try to avoid relying on it too much."

"O.K." Jean replied and took the collar.

Night Wing prepared himself to leave, but before he did, he felt Jean's soft hand on his arm.

"Night Wing?" She said, "Thank you. For everything."

Night Wing dipped his head in acknowledgement, exited the tower, got into Barry's car, and drove away from Jump City. As he drove, he thought to himself,

' _Breaking a girl out of prison and hiding her form the most powerful beings on Earth was the easy part. Now I do the hard part._

Readying himself mentally, Night Wing prepared to face Miss Martian and Superboy.

 **Miss Martian**

In the small, dark hospital room, Miss Martian knelt by her uncle's bedside. Ever since Martian Manhunter had tried to mentally sift through Jean's memories, he had fallen into a coma that no one could wake him from.

Miss Martian placed a hand on his head, and her eyes glowed an eerie green.

' _Uncle J'onn?'_ She called mentally, hoping for a response.

She was met with silent nothingness. She probed further, hoping she could wake him by force. But as Miss Martian attempted to delve deeper into her Uncle's mind, she was met with visions of fire so intense that she nearly fell to the ground.

With a cry of pain she ripped her hand away from the older Martian's head.

' _This is all Jean's fault!'_ thought Miss Martian as she began to cry, ' _If I ever get my hands on her-'_

Conner chose that moment to walk through the door.

"Are you alright?" He asked when he saw her on the floor.

Miss Martian sniffed , nodded, and stood up. Conner walked her over to one of the plastic hospital benches and sat down with her. Comfortingly, he put an arm around the martian girl. In return Miss Martian buried her face in his chest.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Conner." She said quietly.

Her voice might have sounded muffled to anyone else, but Superboy (with his super-hearing) could hear her just fine.

"We'll get through this." Conner replied.

Technically only 6 years old, sometimes Conner found himself in social situations he didn't know how to handle. But when he was around Miss Martian, his fear of interacting with others vanished.

At that moment, a knock sounded on the door. Thinking that it was another doctor, or perhaps a member of the league, Conner called,

"Come in."

But the person that entered was no doctor. Night Wing, dressed in his civvies and ever present sunglasses, walked over to Martian Manhunter's bedside, glancing briefly at the alien, as if he was paying his respects. He then walked back to the door and shut it before sitting down next to Conner and M'gann.

M'gann felt an urge to use her mental powers to see what was going on in his head, but she remembered that it was extremely rude to do so in Earth culture. So she restrained herself to silence, not really feeling like speaking.

"How is he?" Night Wing asked, even though it didn't take a mind reader to see that the Martian was not doing well.

"Not good. The doctors don't know how to treat him, and I can only do so much." Miss Martian replied in a scratchy voice.

"Listen Miss M, I kind of promised you guys I wouldn't keep secrets anymore… About Jean-" Night Wing started to say.

Miss Martian cut him off.

"It's O.K. I know what happened with Jean." She said.

"Uh, You do?" Night Wing asked, his expression changing from sadness to weariness.

"Yeah. Jean, that girl, that monster, escaped. Superman told us how Jean blasted a hole through the wall, almost killing you in the process. You probably feel like it was your fault because you were the only person near her cell at the time." Miss Martian assumed.

Night Wing remained quiet. He looked for a moment like he was about to say something, but he let Miss Martian continue to speak.

"But it's not your fault, Night Wing. This girl is dangerous-no...deadly. I'm almost glad that you weren't able to stop her escape because then she might have killed you too!" By the end of her speech Miss Martian was sobbing into Conner's shoulder again.

Night Wing's face twitched ever so slightly as he said,

"Your uncle isn't dead, Jean hasn't killed anybody yet."

Miss Martian shrugged, wiping a tear from her eye. She couldn't help thinking,

' _It isn't like Night Wing to defend a wanted criminal.'_ but Miss Martian quickly pushed that thought to the back of her mind.

"I know. I'll stop her before she can hurt anybody else." She said out loud.

A glare hardened on Miss Martian's face as she thought about how she could stop Jean. For a while, Miss Martian had gone through a darkk period where she had used her powers unrelentingly on others, without their consent. She had lost all respect for the minds of others, leaving several people(and aliens) in permanent vegetable states.

Miss Martian had even driven Superboy away. Eventually, she had come back to morals, and Superboy. After Wally's death, she had vowed not to hurt people with her powers anymore. But Jean made her want to unleash her full potential once again. After all, Jean deserved a taste of her own medicine, and only Miss Martian could give it to her.

"Don't you think you should be taking care of your uncle?" Conner asked. "He needs you."

Miss Martian's facial features crumpled.

"I didn't think about that." She admitted.

Hesitatingly Night Wing stood up. Miss Martian wondered if he was O.K. 'Hesitatingly' was not a word she used often to describe her teammate.

"I've got a report to turn in. Just take good care of your uncle, alright?" He said apologetically, standing up.

Before Night Wing left, he sent Conner a look that said,

' _Take good care of Miss Martian too.'_

If Miss Martian hadn't been so lost in her own head, she might heard Night Wing's tumultuous thoughts.

' _I've got to tell her about Jean!'_ he argued mentally with his own conscience.

' _But she's not necessary to the mission. So she doesn't need to know.'_

' _I need to tell them. NOT telling them is what caused all this trouble in the first place.'_

With a heavy heart full of unspoken words, Night Wing headed out of the hospital and back towards Jump City.

 **Jean**

Impulse had quickly grown bored of exploring Titans Tower. Jean had thought that the Tower was mostly a safety hazard, and was surprised that it was still half-standing, surrounded by rubble.

Impulse was currently trying to shuffle a deck of cards at super speed. He messed up and cards flew everywhere, a few hitting Jean in the face. The speedster didn't bother to pick them up. Instead he collapsed next to Jean on the couch where she was sitting. He began to eat a granola bar.

"You seem to get bored pretty easily." Jean commented.

"One of the perks of being able to run at the speed of sound. I think at the speed of sound, and eat at the speed of sound, and talk at the-" Impulse rambled.

"O.K., I get it! You kind of remind me of a guy from my Earth. He's a ...what did you call it.. Speedster."

"Really, another speedster? That's so crash!"

"He's a villain." Jean said dryly with a sarcastic tilt of her head.

"Oh, feelin' the mode." Impulse replied dejectedly.

"Mode? Is that like, slang here?" Jean asked, changing the subject.

"It will be. In a few decades." Impulse said with a wry grin.

"What are you saying?" Jean asked slowly, starting to connect the dots in her head. "Are you supposed to be from the...future?"

"Ding Ding Ding!" Impulse yelled, jumping up from the couch, throwing the empty wrapper on the floor.

"You really expect me to believe you?" Jean asked, her eyes narrowing.

She had met time-travellers before, but never any as irresponsible and annoying as Impulse.

"Sure. I mean, you're from another dimension so it shouldn't be that hard to believe!" The smaller ginger replied enthusiastically. "Besides, can't you just read my mind and know that I'm telling the truth? That's what the League did when I first arrived… In my TIME MACHINE."

Jean shook her head.

"I'm not going to read your mind."

"Oh, Are you one of those 'nice' telepaths that asks first, like Miss Martian used to be?" Impulse questioned.

Jean snorted in laughter.

"Hardly." she said, "but as long as I'm wearing this collar, I can't use my powers."

Impulse hadn't noticed it, but Jean had put the power inhibitor back on.

"Are you sure you even need that?" he asked.

Glaring, Jean zealously shook her head.

For a second, Impulse became a little more serious. He put a hand on Jean's shoulder.

"Dealing with powers that are out of control can be hard. The Team knows that; even Night Wing, who doesn't have powers, understands a little. Sometimes, it's just a mental block you need to overcome. Especially since your powers are connected to your mind."

Jean didn't reply. She was trying hard not to cry, because Impulse reminded her of all of her friends back home. Scott. Kitty. Kurt. Even Rogue, who Jean couldn't put up with half the time. Friends who probably thought she was dead, and were not even looking for her.

Not for the first time, Jean questioned her sanity to fly through a random portal without any further plan.

Then again, she had just come back from the dead at the time.

Impulse's attention was suddenly snapped away by a stray cat that had wandered into the Tower, probably through one of the many holes in the walls and windows.

"Here kitty!" He shouted, making a dash for it. The cat somehow managed to evade Impulse, and raced over to Jean. It rubbed up against her leg.

"Oh, Kitty." She said sadly.

But as she thought of her old friends, and how they would react if they met her new ones, she allowed herself a very small smile.

 **1st off- review!**

 **2nd off- I know this is a little AU, but I'm going to say that Teen Titans takes place in the five year gap between seasons one and two of YJ. That way, Beast boy has his powers, Robin is still pretty young and inexperienced, and the public isn't too harsh on the idea of aliens yet.**

 **3rdly- I will probably have a few cameos by a couple of Titans in the next few chapters, but they won't be central to the story line.**

 **4th of all- I HAVE BEEN SPELLING "CONNER" WRONG FOR 18 CHAPTERS. _18 CHAPTERS!_ I'm so sorry Conner. I don't deserve to write YJ Fanfiction.**


	20. Chapter 19

**Professor X**

"You want us to go to school with the other X-men?" Wally asked the Professor in confusion.

"Yes. The X-men registered at Bayville High have already returned today from the week long "anti-mutant" suspension." The Professor explained

The Professor sat behind his desk in his office facing Wally and Artemis. Wally had a look of excitement at the Professor's offer, while Artemis looked annoyed.

The couple was sitting far apart from each other, avoiding eye contact. They didn't banter like they usually did, or even exchange just remained silent as they both looked straight ahead and gave the cold shoulder to the other. The Professor noted the tension between the two.

"Sounds cool with me!" Wally said nonchalantly.

"No." Artemis stated bluntly, her voice clearly showing that she would not change her answer.

"This could be a chance to see how different our world is from this one!" Wally said animatedly, "It's a one-in-a-lifetime chance!"

Artemis rolled her eyes.

"You hate school, Wally."

"Yeah, but this is different! This is inter-dimension school! And we get to hang out with the other X-students outside the mansion."

"So you just want to hang out with your little X-friends?" Artemis asked accusingly.

"I thought it might be an interesting experience for the two of you. "The Professor calmly redirected the topic of conversation, "Also, we don't know how long you are going to be... stuck… here, so it might be good-"

"Why are you acting like this!" Artemis said furiously, nearly knocking over her chair as she jumped to her feet.

"W-What do you mean babe?" Wally stuttered, surprised at his girlfriend's sudden outburst.

The Professor frowned at the rude interruption. He guessed that Artemis was having more trouble adjusting than he originally thought.

"Everybody's acting like we're here to stay! Even you, Wally!" Artemis said, her voice laced with frustration.

"We might be here for a while. I think that's all that the Prof. is saying!" Wally replied in a hurt voice, holding up his hands defensively.

"We need to be figuring out a way to get home. Not acting like tourists." Artemis's voice quieted to a harsh whisper as she spoke.

"I don't know why you're being like this." Wally replied angrily, "It's not like you have any family to go back home to."

Artemis's eyes narrowed in anger, her mouth becoming a tight line.. Jerkily she stood up.

"Babe, I didn't mean it like-" Wally began to say, but Artemis was out the door in a split second. The Professor peeked into Wally's mind and saw that similar arguments had taken place recently.

' _The stress of reconnecting after a year passed for Artemis and only a few days for Wally has been hard.'_ The Professor thought to himself. He directed his next thought at Wally.

' _Perhaps going to school would only add more stress.'_ He suggested.

Wally turned back to the Professor.

' _If it's O.K. with you Professor, I think space would help me the most right now.'_

The Professor nodded and picked up the phone to make arrangements for Wally to attend Bayville high. He dialed Bayville High School office and waited for the secretary to answer.

The Professor didn't mean to read Wally's last thought, but he picked it up without meaning to.

' _I'd rather be at school without Artemis then be here, and fight constantly with her.'_

At that the Professor felt a huge wave of sadness, anger, and frustration sweep off Wally.

Emotional teenage couples were enough o give any emapth or telepath a headache.

That's when it occurred to The Professor. During that entire exchange between Artemis and Wally, the Professor had not picked up a thing from the former. Artemis had not projected a single thought, a single emotion, and now that Charles tried to sense the girl, he realized that he could not.

It was like her mind did not exist.

Unless Artemis had learned how to shield her mind exceptionally well in the short time she had been at the mansion, there were other powers at play.

The Professor wondered for a second what had happened to Artemis's mind, but then the phone in his hand stopped ringing and a voice on the other side said,

"Bayville High School office. How may I help you today?"

The Professor pushed the troublesome thoughts in his head to the back of his mind and replied,

"This is Charles Xavier. I would like to register Wally West for High School."

 **Artemis**

Artemis got mad sometimes. Really mad. But she always promised herself that no matter how she felt she would not let her emotions destroy relationships with her friends and family. At least, not in the way that she had seen other relationships destroyed.

Right then, she felt like she was failing.

Artemis felt more disappointed in herself than angry at Wally. She wanted to go apologize, but her own pride prevented her from doing so. As Artemis walked through the hallways of the Xavier institute, she took deep breaths to calm herself down.

' _Getting angry won't help me at all. Having a pity party won't help either. What I need is a way to deal with Sportsmaster. If I can do that, I can get myself a way home.'_

For a brief second, Artemis considered leaving Wally behind on this Earth. Then, she banished the notion from her mind. She would get that stupid red-head home, even if he acted like an ungrateful jerk the entire time.

She owed his friends that much. HE owed HIS friends that much!

' _What if Wally doesn't want to leave?'_

The thought appeared quickly, without warning. Planting a seed of doubt in Artemis's heart.

OF COURSE Wally wanted to go home… Right?

Artemis hurried her walk through the institute, quickly arriving at her room, a place she seemed to be spending a lot of alone time.

She began to plan ways to get home, some involving Sportsmaster, but most of them ending in failure. Artemis sighed and banged her head against the desk where she was sitting.

' _Night Wing was always the one who came up with the plans!'_ she lamented mentally.

But Artemis's options were limited with so many mutants, especially a mind reader, around. Then Artemis remembered what Sportsmaster had done with those power-dampener-nano-tech-things that were supposedly in her body now. She wondered if the Professor really couldn't sense her mind anymore. Hesitatingly, she called out,

' _Professor!'_

No response.

' _PROFESSOR!'_

No response.

' _PROFESSOR I'M GOING TO SHOOT WALLY IN THE FACE WITH AN ARROW! DON'T RESPOND IF YOU ARE O.K. WITH THAT!'_

No response.

So the power-dampening-nano-whats-its actually worked. Her dad had been telling the truth for once.

This opened up a lot more possibilities for Artemis. That's when she came up with an idea. It was partially formed and half-baked, but it was a plan that just might work.

Artemis picked up a pen and began to scribble down more ideas. She was going to get home, and Wally was going home too, whether he wanted it or not.

 **Wally**

 **(Timey Wimey Skippity Skip)**

Wally had not seen Artemis since their falling out in Xavier's office the day before. He had spent part of the day sulking in his room, and the rest of it hanging out with Kitty, Bobby, Rhane, Roberto, and Kurt, who were elated that he would be attending Bayville High with them.

It was a Tuesday morning that Wally made his debut at said Bayville High.

In his home dimension, Wally had already graduated High school, but this was more about the experience, not the actual education. Wally was registered as a senior at Bayville, and would only be in school for a couple of months anyway, since it was April.

Wally got his schedule and made his way to his first class. It was AP science; science being the one class Wally really excelled at.

In the typical Wally fashion, Wally was late. He toyed with the idea of using his super speed, but decided against it. He wore a red long-sleeved shirt and jeans that he had borrowed from some of the other X-men.

The X-men had explained how there weren't really secret identities, but none of the mutants used their powers in public- unless they wanted trouble. So Wally settled with being tardy. He ducked into class late, earning himself an angry glare from the teacher.

"Like I said at the beginning of class, we will have a new student, Wally West." The teacher droned.

"Sup." Said Wally as the entire class turned to look at him.

A couple of cute girls giggled and waved flirtatiously at Wally, and some jocks eyed him.

The teacher called the class to attention and began to talk about the upcoming test.

Turns out that school in the X-dimension was just as boring as it was in Wally's home dimension. And there was just as much drama.

After class a couple nerdy looking kids approached Wally in the hallway.

"H-hi! I noticed your notes on r-relative velocity in class." the first kid, an undersized boy with giant glasses said.

The other kid was just as scrawny and had a over-sized backpack that looked like it was about to crush him. He added to his friends comment.

"We were wondering if you would like to study with us during-"

Before Wally could even reply, the two kids were pushed aside by a large blond boy flanked by several other typical jock stereotypes.

"I'm Duncan." He said in an overly-arrogant voice as if he were the big-man on campus.

Duncan immediately followed up his introduction with,

"I'm the big-man on campus."

Wally noticed the two nerds quickly scampering away from the posse of jocks. Wally did not want to get involved with people like this, but he still responded politely.

"I'm Wally West."

"You do any sports? Any football?"

Wally inwardly sighed. He hadn't wanted to judge people on his first day, but Bayville High just seemed full of so many stereotypes.

"Nah. I do run though." Wally grinned at his inside joke.

"Football's the best sport." Duncan grunted.

"Sure it is." Wally said sarcastically.

Duncan didn't seem to pick up the sarcasm. He just grunted again and lumbered off, laughing at some vulgar joke one of his buddies made.

One of the blond jocks who was tall and lean (but still pretty buff) didn't walk off.

"Track season just ended." He said, "But we're starting cross country early this year, if you want some people to run with. I'm Travis."

Wally nodded, thanked Travis for his offer, and continued through the hallway.

He saw Kitty and waved to her, and she waved enthusiastically back. It turns out that Wally had English with her.

Kitty seemed to be a good student, good enough to be a year ahead in English (a subject that Wally did not enjoy as much as science).

This class did not seem to move so slow, since Kitty was there to make it more interesting. The English class was writing short stories, and Kitty was really into hers. It was about a mutant who struggled against the horrors of racial prejudice.

Wally had noticed that most of the "normal" students had been avoiding the X-men, and he had heard plenty of mutant-related jokes from different kids. Still, Wally couldn't but help wonder how bad the situation must be when he heard a rumor that all the mutants might be expelled permanently.

The day progressed all the way to lunch, and Wally was glad to see that he had X-men in most of his classes. But he was mostly glad that it was time to eat. He had packed a huge lunch since he wouldn't be able to grab snacks from the fridge every ten minutes like he did at the Institute. Wally sat down with his "X-friends," which earned him stares from the "normal" students.

"So Wally, are you enjoying your day so far?" Rahne asked in her lilting accent.

Wally nodded to the Irish girl.

"Sure. It seems pretty similar to school where I come from. Annoying Jocks, annoying teachers. School seems to be universally annoying."

Wally's friends laughed at that.

"Vhere do you come from?" Came a german voice to Wally's left.

Wally turned and did a double take when he saw Kurt. The German boy looked completely human! He had fair skin and dark navy hair, with no sign of the tail or strange deformed hands. Wally had grown used to seeing his friend blue and fuzzy. Kurt laughed when he saw Wally's reaction. He held up a watch and tapped it.

"It's ze Vatch zat creates a hologram zat hides my... pelicularities."

"That's so cool man." Wally replied, examining the watch closely. "I have got to get one of those."

"You didn't answer Kurt's question though. Where are you from Wally?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, um, just a small town, nowhere near here. But you've probably never heard of it." Wally replied, thinking quickly.

"But zhere are many mutants in zis town of yours, yes? Remember, you told me about your friends." Kurt pressed.

"Uh, yeah, well I guess there are a few mutants." Wally lied.

Wally felt a little guilty that he had to keep lying to Kurt and the other X-men.

' _Well, I don't HAVE to lie.'_ Wally thought. ' _I could just tell them the truth. What would it hurt?'_ Wally immediately discarded that idea. If he told anyone that Artemis and he were from a different dimension with no way of getting home, Artemis would kill him.

Before Wally could think of some new lie to tell, he saw a blur of teal and silver in the corner of his eye.

He groaned.

This day was about to get a lot worse.

 **1st off- review!**

 **2nd off- I hope the plot will start speeding up from this point on. I don't want this to be over 30 chapters. I also want it to have a good ending.**

 **3rdly- Thanks to all my beautiful reviewers! You guys are the best!**


	21. FINALLY CHAPTER 20

**Hey guys, just reminding you, for the sake of this story, Teen Titans takes place in between seasons 1 and 2 of Young Justice. Sorry if it seems a little AU because of the changing of character's timelines.**

 **Jean**

Jean had found herself a room in the Titans Tower. The room used to belong to someone named Raven, but since Raven had used it, it had fallen into disrepair. Jean had cleared most of the rubble and broken stuff out of the room and had pried the boards off the windows and doors. Even without the dust and decay, the black-painted room still had a gloomy feeling to it. Luckily, there were numerous candles in the dresser, and Jean put those to good use.

She doubted Raven (whoever and wherever she was) had much use for the room now.

Jean had rolled out a blanket next to the canopy bed, which was still standing. Even though the bed seemed usable, Jean was reluctant to use it- it was covered in dust and grime and Jean didn't have anyway to clean it. As a result, Jean used a blanket on the floor when she slept.

Skimming the morning paper (that Night Wing had given her at her request), Jean searched for information about the Justice League. She had learned plenty from actual experiences with them, but she wanted to know more about what classified as "superheroes" in this unfamiliar world. She wanted to know more specifically about Night Wing, Superman, and the heroes that she had met so far.

She also wanted to know if the JL had publicly proclaimed her as a threat. There didn't seem to be anything about a red-headed super-powered mad woman escaping from prison in the papers, however. Night Wing had said(with a bit of venom in his voice) that "The Justice League doesn't like to show their failures to the world for everybody to see." Despite his ominous words, Jean figured that they could only keep her escape under wraps for so long.

People had started to wonder why there was a giant hole in the central city pipeline prison. Along with that, many people had seen the online video 'EPIC SUPERMAN BATTLE WITH HOT REDHEAD!' Jean had heard that the public in this world was more trusting of their superheroes than the general public of Bayville was of the mutants.

Still, some news reporters like Gordon Godfrey, seemed to have a bone to pick with the Justice League.

Jean came across an article written by the one-and-only Gordon Godfrey. It seemed he was a journalist now as well as a reporter.

 _Friend or Foe or Another Alien Invasion?_

 _by Gordon Godfrey_

 _After the alien invasion last year was thwarted by the Justice League, many people assumed that it was finally safe to go out at night again. The reign of terror brought on by the confrontation with our self-proclaimed "protectors" and their enemies had finally come to an end..._

 _Or so we all thought._

 _Less than a week and a half ago a video posted online showed Superman battling a red-headed teenage girl. But this was no normal teenage girl, she was obviously an out-of-control meta, if not some new alien being that was trying to take over the planet._

 _Multiple sighting as well as documented evidence prove the reality of this new super-powered threat. A threat that once again has a suspicious connection to the Justice League. This organization, with its superficial goals of "justice," has been nothing but a tumor on our nation. As it grows in power and size more and more super-powered or alien problems seem to occur, poisoning our great country..._

The article continued to rant more about the inefficiency of the Justice League rather than Jean herself.

In the ruins of Titan's Tower, a shape moved. Jean detected it in her peripheral vision and she dropped the newspaper, spinning around to face the motion.

"It's alright. Night Wing sent me." the figure called.

Jean relaxed at the sound of a voice she recognized

"Oh, Blue Beetle, it's just you."

Blue Beetle was dressed in his civvies, jeans and a hoodie, holding bags of groceries under one arm.

"Que!? How did you know it was me! And you can't call me Blue Beetle in public!" he exclaimed, nervously looking around even though there was no one in sight.

Jean narrowed her eyes.

"Um, anyone who has heard you talk in your Blue Beetle costume would know that it's you. Also, Night Wing said he would send someone to check in on me every day."

"J-Just don't call me that in public. Call me Jaime, comprende?"

Jean nodded in agreement, flicked her hair out of her eyes, and sat back down on the floor. Jaime, the Blue Beetle, surveyed the living space that Jean had set up for herself in the heart of the Titans Tower. He sat down on the grimy bed, laying out the groceries.

"I'm not used to keeping secret identities anymore." Jean started, "After everyone found out that mutants existed, a lot of superheroes had their secret identities revealed."

"What about non-mutants?" prodded Jaime, "Name a superhero who isn't a mutant that has gone public.

"Well, Tony Stark admitted to the public during a press conference that he was Iron man."

"Iron man?"

"Tony Stark was a billionaire play-boy philanthropist who used his money to build futuristic technology to fight evil."

"Well... I guess you don't see one of those everyday." Blue Beetle said, impressed. "Anyone else?"

"Well, everyone at my high school knows that my friends and I have special abilities. I like to think that we are heroes- even if a lot of people think we are monsters." Jean blushed.

"Sometimes I think it would be easier if we just told everyone our secret identities, and be done with all the secrecy. Who cares what people think about me, right?" Jaime admitted.

"It's harder than that. Once people find out, they treat you differently. If I could go back to the moment that everyone found out that I was a mutant and stop it, I would." Jean whispered, her face darkening.

This silenced Jaime. He pondered Jeans words for a moment. Jean almost tried to delve into his mind, but she restrained herself. Since her conversation with Impulse the day before, she had decided to take off the prohibitor collar. As a precaution she had also erected a mental barrier in her mind to contain the Phoenix. It was weak, but successful so far.

' _This barrier won't hold forever. I'm not good at making mental blocks; not like the professor is. Hopefully, if I don't use my powers to much and the Phoenix doesn't act up, I might be able to bring it under control again. Hopefully being the key word.'_ Jean thought.

Jean was relieved that the Phoenix hadn't broken through her pitiful barrier yet. Although the mystic fire bird was powerful, it was also unpredictable, and it seemed to be biding its time and gathering its strength.

Jaime broke the silence and Jean's train of thought.

"I guess, I wouldn't know if I would want to change it or not. I haven't really seen how people react to secret identities before."

Blue Beetle stood up, brushing dust from his pants.

"I, uh, gotta get going. I have a training session at mt Justice. If I don't show up they'll notice. Will you be O.K. here?"

Jean tried her best to produce an encouraging smile.

"I don't need a baby sitter." She joked.

Jean liked Jaime and Night Wing and Impulse. She really did. But she still felt awkward around them, like an intruder. She could hardly call them close friends.

Jaime left the room without saying anything other than a hasty "Bye."

Jean listened to his receding footsteps echo through the empty hallways. When she heard another voice, she almost thought it was Jaime again. But this voice was much different.

"This place has really turned into a dump." The mystery voice grumped, "I can't believe I ever... Why am I talking to myself? Cy was right, I'm going insane."

This mystery voice did not have a Mexican accent. It was also much higher and more nasally, like that of a pubescent tween. Jean hid behind the canopy bed, readied her mind, and ignored the Phoenix's presence lurking somewhere in the shadows. If there was a chance of a fight, Jean could not defend herself without her powers. She would be careful though, as she still remembered how it felt to have the phoenix take control of her body and mind when her powers spiraled out of control.

The mystery voice drifted through the hallway and stopped outside Raven's room. The room where Jean was hiding. Jean heard sniffling, as if the mystery voice was crying.

"What would she think of me now. Pathetic." The voice cleared its throat and continued, high-pitched and squeaky,"I'm a real man. I can handle a little nostalgia. Beast Man, I like the sound of that."

Light footsteps padded their way into Raven's room, and Jean dared to peek out from behind the bed. The mystery voice was a tween boy with green skin. He had pointy elf like ears that were framed by a shock of darker green hair. He was standing in the doorway awkwardly, staring at a bookshelf, with his back to Jean. He walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a photo that lay on one of the shelves.

Jean had only glanced at this photo once before. It was a group of teens dressed in colorful costumes. One was the green-skinned boy. The small green boy was siting on the shoulders of a large African American boy who looked to be part machine, reminding Jean of science fiction cyborgs. He was wearing a apron that said, "I love me some meat!" There were also two girls, one with pale purple skin, a frown, and a long dark cloak that didn't reveal much more; in contrast there was next to her a smiling orange skinned girl with reddish pink hair who was wearing a very very revealing outfit. In the center of the photo was a boy in a colorful yellow green and red costume. He seemed to be a natural leader, and strangely, his face looked familiar to Jean. They were standing on the (once) green lawn in front of a T-shaped tower.

The Teen Titans.

Jean let out a shuddering breath as she realized that this boy was probably one of the good guys. Hopefully, he was one of the good guys who did not want to put her in prison.

The green skin boy twitched and spun around like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Who's there!" he shouted.

As he stood there, he changed, almost instantaneously, into a much larger, hairier, green gorilla. Slowly Jean stood up, holding out her hands in a gesture of peace. As she stood, the light glinting in from the window caught on her red hair, making it shine.

"Star-" the gorilla gasped as if it had just seen a ghost.

Remarkably, it still had the voice of a tween boy.

' _I wonder if Star is the red-head in the photo.'_ Jean thought vaguely as the gorilla confronted her.

"No. I'm not her." Jean replied softly.

This boy reminded her of the young mutants that often appeared at the Institutes front door step. Confused. Alone.

"No. You don't sound anything like Star Fire." The gorilla growled menacingly, looking less confused and more angry.

"I don't know who Star Fire is, but I-"

Jean was cut off by the boy gorilla.

"You and all the other homeless dudes better get out of here! This place is a sanctuary to the mighty Teen Titans!" The Gorilla shouted, clumsily waving to the broken down building that looked nothing like a sanctuary.

While performing this gesture, he almost knocked over the bookcase he had been standing by.

"Actually, Night Wing said I could stay here for a while." Jean replied, wanting to validate herself."

"He did what? He knows this ain't a hotel right?"

The gorilla changed again, but this time it returned to a different form. The boy had the same facial features, but longer sideburns. His ears were more rounded, and he was covered in hair and had a tail. Jean thought he looked like an adorable, green, teenage monkey.

"I need to lay low for a while." Said Jean.

"Oh. Uh, did you hear all the stuff I said? Because I really didn't mean half of that sappy stuff. Beast Boy is tougher than that. I was a founding member after all." Beast Boy blustered.

"You used to be a Teen Titan... Was Night Wing a member?" Jean hoped she would finally have a couple questions answered.

"Of course! Why would the Boy Wonder let you stay here if you didn't even know he used to be a Titan?" Beast Boy replied, hopping over to Jean in a monkey-like fashion.

Jean was more than confused, so she simply stated.

"Night Wing and I just met. He's not one for a lot of talking."

This had Beast Boy howling with laughter. Literally howling. He transformed into a green wolf, wagging tail and all.

"Just wait until he starts giving orders. He's a real alpha dog. He was the leader of our team, ya know? I always thought I would have been a better fit, but he did pretty well. Got us out of some asterous situations..."

Beast boy started to ramble, and patiently, Jean let him.

She learned about the dynamics of the Teen Titans; about Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Star Fire, and Robin; about missions and battles; Beast Boy even gave her a demo of his powers and how he could change into different animals and even alter his features a little.

"The green is permanent, but I make it work!" he said sassily, striking a pose.

When Beast Boy was done talking, Jean felt like she had a much better idea of who the Night Wing, who used to be Robin(but there are lots of other Robins too) was.

"So what happened? Teen Titans seems like a great team." Jean asked Beast Boy after a couple hours of talking and laughing. Jean felt like she was back at a class at the institute, talking with her students and friends.

Beast Boy, who Jean had learned was a good natured, funny boy, quieted down quickly.

"We were a good team. But we went out of style, I guess. Robin became Night Wing and wanted to move on to a new team. I eventually went with him. I even got a new look." He said, shifting to make his features look more human(except for the ears) and then monkey-like again. "Star Fire went home after Tamaran got destroyed or something like that. Cyborg trained other groups like the Titans East to takeover as heroes."

"What about Raven?" Jean prodded.

Beast Boy hung his head.

"She had a lot of relationship issues with her dad. Besides that, she was always kind of a loner."

"Oh."

Jeans sensed that Beast Boy was holding back information, but she did not divulge into his mind to try to discover what. She sensed that this was a personal issue, something that she should not intrude on. Beast Boy sensed the awkward moment as well.

"Yo, look at the time. I uh, gotta run."

"O.K. Beast Boy this was fun." Jean responded with a genuine smile.

"Yeah, lets do it again some time." From the identical smile on Beast Boy's face, Jean could tell that he enjoyed having someone to talk too; someone who took him seriously.

"Well, it's getting late. Shouldn't you be in school or something?" Jean interrogated suspiciously, what Scott called her ' 'teacher-mode' kicking in.

She was surprised that talking to Beast Boy felt natural, just like talking to her students back at the institute.

"Oh, No! I have training! I was supposed to be there, like, two hours ago!" Beast Boy shouted.

Transforming into a green cheetah, Beast Boy left the Titan's Tower in a hurry. After he left, Jean felt even more homesick than before. It then occurred to her that Beast Boy had never asked her name. She smiled.

' _I'm sure he'll ask next time.'_ She thought as she picked up the newspaper once again.

 **1st off- Review**

 **2nd off- This chapter was late, and I am so so so sorry! (but I went camping for a week so I have an excuse. Also, I accidentally deleted the edited version of this chapter twice. Once because of , and twice because I am stupid)**

 **3rdly- I know I am attempting to smoothly merge a lot of different story lines and universes into one complete multi-verse, so if there are any problems I over-looked, let me know. One of these problems was Beast Boy's appearance, which is very different in Teen Titans vs. his appearance in Young Justice. Luckily, his shape shifting ability is a good loophole.**


	22. Chapter 21

**Wally**

 _Previously_

 _Before Wally could think of some new lie to tell, he saw a blur of teal and silver in the corner of his eye._

 _He groaned._

 _This day was about to get a lot worse._

"Pietro? What's he doing here?" Kitty mumbled, the surprise and disgust evident in her voice.

The blur of silver and teal zipped around the cafeteria, knocking plates out of students and ignoring the teacher's shouts of anger. His lackeys, Toad, Blob, and Avalanche followed, glaring at anyone who tried to make eye contact. They paraded through the cafeteria, knocking over the two nerds that Wally had talked to earlier and laughing at the poor boys.

Those three were trailed by Scarlet witch who looked simultaneously bored and embarrassed to be associated with her brother and his friends.

Despite the chaos, the Brotherhood were all wearing civilian clothes and carrying school supplies. (Actually, Wanda and Avalanche were the only ones carrying books- Toad and Blob were carrying random food.)

"They- they go to school here!" Wally choked.

He had hoped he wouldn't see those guys again for a long time.

"Yeah. They're the reason mutants got expelled from Bayville high for a week, 'member?" Rogue said.

"Quicksilver doesn't seem like the type to voluntarily come to school." Wally observed.

"He iz not. He never comes to school unless he iz forced too. Or unless zere iz zomezing he vants." Kurt said, nervously looking at Wally.

When Quicksilver ran by the X-men table, Wally used his super speed to trip the silver-haired mutant, sending him skidding across the floor. Pietro looked around in startled surprise, until he caught sight of Wally.

"Now where have I seen this before?" Wally mocked as Pietro stood up, scowling angrily.

"Well look who's hanging out with the X-Losers? I didn't recognize you without your bright yellow monkey suit."

Wally fought back another ill-thought out commet.

' _You better be careful man. Because you don't understand how much you rub me the wrong way.'_ Wally thought, squaring his jaw and meeting Pietro's dark look with his own.

Little did he know, Pietro was thinking the exact same thing.

At that point, the rest of the brotherhood caught up with Pietro, Blob panting from the exertion of keeping up with his speedster friends.

"Hey look, it's Kid SPLASH!" Toad taunted.

"I thought his name was Flash-kid." Blob mumbled.

Wally rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Kid Flash. Honestly, how hard is it for you people to understand?"

"It's easy enough to understand that you betrayed us for those X-freaks. We took you in!" Snapped Pietro.

"Yeah, and then your sister tried to brainwash me with her mind control when I wouldn't agree to do what you wanted! You guys need to learn to take 'No' for an answer!" Wally replied, his voice rising.

Quicksilver snorted and Wanda looked ready to kill somebody- even more so than usual.

One of the braver teachers interrupted the scene.

It was the mundane AP Science teacher from earlier. Although the teacher was a grown man and taller than all of the students, he looked nervous as he approached the X-Men and the Brotherhood.

"Now you m-mutants aren't causing Mr. West any trouble… are you?" The teacher stammered, looking more like a frightened child than an authority figure.

"Please, Wally is as mutant as it gets!" Avalanche said, rather loudly.

All eyes turned to the confrontation happening in the cafeteria. There hadn't been a new mutant at Bayville High since it had been revealed that the Kids from Xavier's Institute were mutants.

"Is this so? I didn't see anything about mutants on your application. If you didn't register as a mutant when applying to the school you could get in big trouble, young man." The AP Science teacher said condescendingly, anti-mutant fervor building in his voice.

"Umm…" Wally said intelligently as he felt the glares of the human students of the cafeteria analyzing him in a new light.

"It's not like we hafta register, though. It ain't the law. It shouldn't matter to any of y'all whether or not Wally is a mutant, or anything else fo' that matter." Rogue said defensively, standing up for Wally.

It was the most words Wally had heard her say in one sentence since he had arrived at the Institute.

Despite Rogue's brave words, Wally heard other students whispering,

"I thought he was just dumb, talking to the X-freaks."

"Is he one of them?"

"No normal person…"

"I'm not a mutant! Wally said confidently, until he saw the confusion on the X-men's faces.

' _I'm a_ _Metahuman. Not a mutant… even if meta-humans and mutants are the basically the same thing.'_

Wally winced inwardly as he remembered saying something very similar to Kurt back at the Institute. The AP Science teacher narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Mutant or not, if you boys cause trouble, you'll be expelled before you know it."

With those threatening words from the teacher, the brotherhood boys (and girl) glared at the X-men before heading across the cafeteria in the opposite direction.

Wally sighed as he sank into his seat, and began to devour his lunch.

"Well that was close." He mumbled through mouthfuls of food.

He realized that the X-men were staring at him in silence. They thought that Wally was afraid to admitting to being a 'mutant' after witnessing Bayville prejudice first-hand.

"Wally," Kitty started slowly, "We understand how hard it is to be a mutant, but you don't have to lie about what you are. We have already proven that we will accept you despite your powers."

"Ya dude. Ve already know that you are a mutant anyway. Ze superspeed iz kind of hard to ignore!" Kurt joked.

Rogue just huffed and turned away, while a couple of other X-men, including didn't make eye contact with Wally.

' _So much for being accepted.'_ Wally thought raising an eyebrow.

"We learned to take pride in what we are." Rhane explained, almost as if she had known Wally's thoughts. "It is borderline offensive to some of us when people are ashamed to be called mutants. Especially when people are ashamed to have really cool mutations like yours."

Rhane finished her rant with a pointed look at Wally.

"Oh. I'm not ashamed... I guess." Wally grunted, eating his lunch a little slower.

"Do you know how many times Rogue, or even Kurt, has told me that they wished their mutation was different? Something that would at least allow them to interact with people normally?" Kitty whispered, making Wally feel extremely guilty.

"I didn't mean to offend anybody, I'm just not used to people knowing who I am." Wally worriedly glanced at the mutants sitting silently at the table. They didn't look satisfied with his apology. " I'm used to hiding my secret identity at all costs." Wally finished lamely, albeit truthfully.

"Ve get it. It iz hard being different and in a strange new place." Kurt encouraged.

Wally sighed.

' _If only you knew.'_

 **Wanda**

Wanda rolled her eyes as her brother made a fool out of himself in front of the entire cafeteria…

Again.

It was the fourth time this month and Wanda was getting annoyed. She sat down at a mostly empty table, glaring at the two nerds who occupied it until they quickly got up and moved.

Blob, Avalanche, and Toad (Wanda couldn't bring herself to use their normal "human" names) plopped down next to her and began shoveling food into their faces. Pietro sat down to, a grimace on his face.

"You need to stop picking fights like that, idiot." She said in a bored, vaguely disappointed voice.

' _Why did it have to be teenage boys?'_ She complained mentally, ' _This team has been lacking in girl power since Mystique left.'_

"I could have taken on those X-freaks with you in my corner, baby." Toad said flirtatiously, leaning in towards Wanda.

Wanda recoiled in disgust (in consistency with her usual reaction to Toad).

"I'm only here to keep an eye on you morons. And to make sure you all do what... M... wants." Wanda shot back as she began to pick at her own cafeteria food.

They all knew who M was. There was no need to elaborate further. Usually visits from Magneto were enough to scare the Brotherhood into obedience, but Magneto was "deep undercover" befriending the X-men, pretending to have cut all ties with the brotherhood.

"So that's why you're here." Avalanche said sarcastically. "Too make sure the Brotherhood doesn't blow Magneto's cover while he's spying on the X-Men-"

Wanda used her Chaos magic to slam Avalanches head into the table, stopping him from finishing his sentence.

"I'm here to make sure you don't say stupid things in public like that!" She hissed at Avalanche, who was rubbing his now bruised forehead.

"Magneto's spying on the X-men? I thought he liked the X-men now. I'm confused." Blob told Wanda, who only groaned in response.

"Magneto ha befriended the X-men so he can use them to get more mutants to join us, and so he can keep an eye on any new mutants they bring in." Avalanche explained.

"But can't that professor guy read his mind?" Blob pointed out.

"Actually," Avalanche smirked. "Pietro says that Magneto has this new thing-"

"SHUT UP BEFORE I END YOU BOTH!" Wanda screamed.

' _Don't these Imbeciles know the meaning of "undercover?"'_

Both Blob's and Avalanche's heads slammed against the table repeatedly.

Toad watched in varying degrees of amusement and sympathy.

"So she's here to be bossy… But why are we here- at school?" Toad asked Pietro, gesturing to the cafeteria. "I thought you hated school."

"I want to get revenge on those stupid X-men for pranking us."

"Oh…" But why can't we do that at their X-mansion?" Even Todd Tolansky knew better than to prank Pietro and try to get away unscathed.

Toad's tongue shot out of his mouth like a bullet from a gun as he grabbed a fly that buzzed through the air nearby.

"The mansion is the problem." Pietro grunted. "It's so high tech we can't even get across the grounds without being detected."

"It is pretty hard to get Blob to sneak across somebody's front lawn without them detecting it."

Blob was too wrapped up in his mundane cafeteria food to notice the mention of his name.

"So that's why we have to prank them here, where they least expect it. I don't even care about Magneto's stupid instructions any more. Keep a low profile? Befriend new mutants? Nah. Not my style." Pietro rambled to himself.

"Better not let Wanda hear you say that." Toad chuckled, but Pietro had started to talk to himself, caught up in his own plans of revenge.

"I could rig their lockers to explode… I could steal all their homework, I could set fire to their cars…" Pietro mumbled with a crazed look in his eyes.

' _Pietro is just as bad at making evil mastermind plans as dad is.'_ Wanda observed.

Toad shrugged, then slurped another fly out of midair. Despite his tendency to eat the tiny beasts, flies often followed Toad's repugnant odor wherever he went. Blob mumbled about being confused but went to get thirds of the cafeteria meal.

"I'm gonna have a bruise! You broke my money-maker!" Avalanche whined, cradling his forehead awkwardly.

Wanda pulled out a pair of earbuds and her phone in a desperate attempt to escape from the horrors of her life.

As she turned on the music to the highest volume, she couldn't help but think,

' _Why does it have to be me?'_

 **1st off- If I was Wanda, I would get tired of the Brotherhood fast. They are hilarious but also downright annoying.**

 **2nd off- Just your friendly neighborhood reminder… Please review!**

 **3rdly- I'm sorry I have been so busy that I am updating about every two weeks. Just know that this story is always my top priority.**


	23. Chapter 22

**Thank you for your support, my faithful reviewers!**

 **-coronadomontes**

 **-OneRealIMonkey**

 **-canthelpmysize**

 **-leofis**

 **-guest**

 **-Marimart**

 **-DoDo1401**

 **-noa171**

 **-mredt**

 **-(that other)guest**

 **-(might be the same)guest**

 **Miss Martian**

Two weeks. And Martian Manhunter had not woken up. His body was healed, but he remained in a coma since he tried to interrogate Jean.

Miss Martian was at her wit's end. She had tried every home remedy, contacted doctors back at Mars, and had even tried a couple of Earth practices. Anything to save her beloved uncle

Currently, she was at Mt. Justice late at night, using the supercomputer to look up people in comas or an unending sleep.

Conner walked in on her, surprised to find her in a rare moment away from her uncle's bedside. His hopes rose, but were dashed when he realized what she was doing.

"You've got to rest too, you know." he said gently, laying a hand on Miss Martian's arm. She flinched, she hadn't heard his approach because her senses were dulled by fatigue. Sha glanced at her watch.

 _2:21 am_

"This isn't helping anything." He continued, not trying to sugar coat his words too much.

Miss Martian heard his thoughts loud and clear.

' _You're worrying me M'gann. Over-working yourself pointlessly-'_

' _It's NOT pointless!'_ she shot back angrily via telepathy.

' _But maybe you should try focusing on something else for a while.'_ Conner sighed mentally.

'' _What else can I do?'_ Miss Martian moaned, collapsing in Conner's arms.

An image flashed through Superboy's brain. It was a girl with red hair, voilently laughing while Superman cowered on the ground before her.

"That's it! That's what I can do!" Miss Martian said, excitedly, jumping up and turning back to the computer.

Her fingers typed even faster than before, and there were the beginnings of a feverish glint in her eye.

"M'gann-"Conner started, not sure how to finish his sentence.

"Forget vengeance. If I can catch this Telepath, I can force her to tell me how to save Manhunter!" She explained, never taking her eyes off the computer.

"M'gann-"

"I mean, I'm still gonna get vengeance, I mean, justice; she won't get away with what she's done…"

"M'gann!" Conner grunted with a little more force.

Miss Martian stopped to look at Conner.

"What if she doesn't know how to reverse the damage?"

Miss Martian froze in place, her mind desperately searching how to answer this simple, short question. A question that threatened to tear this new plan she had created to shreds.

"She'll know. She has to."

 **Night Wing**

Night Wing went to see Jean about two weeks after situating her at Titan's Tower. He was climbing through the dusty hallways of Titan's Tower, on his way to talk to Jean about his plans. He had sent her a message three days before, claiming that he would have a plan to get her home by then.

Three days was how long it took to for Night Wing to figure out a new way to break into Lexcorp.

He couldn't break in the way he previously had, Lex would be ready for that, and Artemis was in a different dimension.

The first time, stealthily crawling through the vents had worked, but Lexcorp had upped its security measures. Now, the only way to get in was to be invited in.

Luckily, Night Wing had a bargaining chip; something Lex wanted. Jean.

Maybe it was the Bat inside of him, or some darker part of his psyche, but Night Wing didn't think if Jean as a person. To him, she was simply a way to get Kid Flash back.

That said, Night Wing didn't want Jean to die, he wanted her to get home. But he still wanted Kid Flash home more.

He grimaced as those thoughts passed through his head. Thinking like that had drawn him farther away from his friends, and prompted him to act impulsively and without concern for others.

Night Wing could not help feeling responsible for the disbandment of the Teen Titans. They were his first team, after all. There had been plenty of good times, but eventually, the group fell apart. Night Wing always assumed it was because of his crummy leadership.

It was a good thing that he had matured a lot since he became the leader of the Young Justice team.

Traversing the narrow hallways of his once home, Titan's Tower, Night Wing heard voices talking. Voices that hadn't graced the tower (or Night Wing's ears) in a long time.

Night Wing broke into a run.

It couldn't be them… Could it?

The main room of the Titan's Tower had been restored to its original glory. Dance party music played, and the former Teen Titans themselves, plus Jean, lounged around the room, chatting and laughing. Copious amounts of pizza were spread across the table in the living room. A big banner was hung across the room that said in fancy lettering, TITANS REUNION!

"How- Why-" Night Wing gasped, nearly speechless.

It wasn't easy to make Night Wing (nearly) speechless.

"Hey! Night Wing!" Beast Boy shouted waving.

"OooOOooh, so it's Night Wing now? When did you get so fancy schmancy?" Cyborg joked.

"Robin, it is- I mean, Wing of Night, it is good to see you, friend!" An orange, red, and purple blur said as it zipped up to Night Wing. It was the face that Night Wing had missed the most.

Starfire gave Night Wing a quick peck on the cheek.

"I missed you." She whispered, reminding Night Wing that once, they had been much more than simply friends.

"Star-" Night Wing asked in confusion, his eyes glazing over.

"Wow. I thought it would be hard to surprise you." a dry voice droned.

Raven met Night Wing's eyes from where she was sitting on the couch next to Jean.

"Why are you all here?" Night Wing managed to utter.

At the moment, he was feeling very confused and caught off guard, and he didn't like it.

"It was all Beastie's idea!" Cyborg shouted.

Night Wing realized he almost missed hearing that overly loud voice.

Almost.

"The little grass stain called us all up and, BOO-YAH, we came!"

"Well, It was J's idea to throw a little par-tay!" Beast Boy admitted as he jumped to his feet and started doing robotic dance moves.

Night Wing looked to Jean, who was presumably the 'J' in question.

"Why would you do all this? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE UNDERCOVER!" He asked in genuine confusion, whisper-yelling the last sentence.

Jean smiled.

"Well firstly…"

 **Jean**

 _FLASH BACK; 3 days before the present; Titan's Tower_

" _So then after we beat Dr. Light, we all got pizza!" Beast Boy announced energetically, pumping his fists in the air._

" _Wow. You guys sure eat a lot of pizza." Jean commented._

 _This was Beast Boy's third time visiting Jean. He enjoyed spending the time with the redhead, as well as reliving his "glory days" as a Teen Titan. Beast Boy lived in Mt. Justice because of his status as both a metahuman and an orphan, and consequently, he did not have many friends outside the YJ team._

 _Jean had not revealed herself as the redheaded girl who had beaten superman and was being hunted by the JLA, but merely as 'J.' She had said things alluding to the fact that she was on the run, but Beast Boy didn't seem to mind. He was just happy to have someone to talk to. (That, or his simple mind didn't catch the subtle hints she dropped that she was in hiding- Beast Boy wasn't' exactly the brightest bulb in the box.)_

" _Yeah. I wish you could meet them all. I mean, besides me and Night Wing."_

" _Why can't I?" Jean asked, startling the small, furry, green boy. "Couldn't you guys have a Titans Reunion, or something?"_

 _Beast Boy's eyes nearly popped out of his head in awe._

" _Why didn't I think of that before!?" He wondered._

 _Just then, the burner cell phone that Night Wing had supplied Jean with buzzed. He had gotten it to make communication easier. She flipped out the keypad to find a message from the former Boy Wonder._

I will figure out a way to get you home. 3 days tops. See you then _._

 _Jean didn't reply. She had been instructed not too. But she smiled._

" _Night Wing's going to get me home to my own worl- I mean, own home.." she breathed._

 _She suddenly glanced up in worry that Beast Boy had noticed her words, but the former Titan was too enthusiastically planning his Titans Reunion. Suddenly, his cheerful attitude was dashed._

" _I doubt Robin would want to come, though. Raven's probably busy too. And Starfire is dealing with… Actually, i'm not sure where Star is."_

 _Jean took pity on Beast Boy._

" _Don't worry about them. I'll do whatever it takes to get them to come. For Robin/Night Wing, all we have to do is have the reunion here, in three day's time." Jean said slyly._

" _Really, you'd do that for me?" Beast Boy asked, his voice trembling a little bit._

" _Of course!" Jean smiled warmly._

 _She really meant it too. Beast Boy was becoming like a little brother to her, and his presence always comforted her and relieved her of boredom._

" _I'm gonna call Cy right now!" Beast Boy muttered excitedly. He pulled out his phone, which had a (suspiciously feminine) leopard print cover that said WILD THANG.  
The phone rang for a couple seconds before Jean heard the voicemail._

" _Hey this is Cyborg, leave a message...BOO-YAH!"_

" _Hi Cyborg- it's me Beast Boy how are ya bro I just wanted to tell you that I am planning a Reunion for the Titans in three days and it is going to be really awesome and there'll probably be meat and…"_

 _The green skinned Titan launched into a long rambling monologue until the phone beeped and the message ended automatically._

" _He'll definitely come." Beast Boy concluded with a grin._

" _So, the only people left are Raven, and Starfire."_

" _Yeah, um I really have no idea where Those two are. Starfire probably isn't even on Earth anymore. And I haven't talked to Raven in a long time."_

" _Do you know a way to contact her?" Jean suggested hopefully._

 _Beast Boy fidgeted for a moment, betraying his awkwardness whenever the subject of Raven was brought up._

" _Ummmmm, No. Let's focus on Starfire for now, O.K.?"_

 _Contacting Starfire did not prove to be as difficult as Beast Boy and Jean thought. Beast Boy was able to talk to Green Lantern using the computer in Mt. Justice. Unfortunately, Jean could not help him much with this._

 _Jean had not told him that she was from another dimension, only that she was not looking to get involved with the Justice League. So Beast Boy was on his own, asking Green Lantern about the state affairs of Tamaran._

" _Apparently the Gordanians had been mostly defeated after the destruction of Tameran, but a few still sought to hunt down the Tamaraneans to their new homeworld." Green Lantern informed. He was floating in space, just outside of Oa, the headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps._

" _Space politics are cool and stuff, but I need to talk to Starfire. Can I use your space telephone, or something?" Beast Boy inquired._

" _Space telephone? We don't really have anything like that." Green Lantern laughed. "But I'll see what I can do about contacting her. Have fun planning your… um, reunion."_

" _Thanks so much GL!" Beast Boy said brightly, terminating the connection._

 _Raven was much harder. Beast Boy told Jean that when he last talked to Raven, she had mentioned wanting to live a normal life. So Beast Boy was walking around Jump city with Jean, looking for Raven._

 _The two were wearing "disguises" so stupid that Jean was surprised that they worked._

 _For Jean, there was a baggy grey hoodie, a pair of dark sunglasses, and a blue baseball cap that concealed her hair. Beast Boy was wearing Groucho glasses and looked ridiculous, the black mustache, huge nose, and thick eyebrows clashing terribly with his green skin and hair._

" _Are you sure this is where she likes to hang out?" Jean asked, uncomfortable being out in the open._

" _Chill. We're just civilians, looking to buy some books on Dark Magic from a shady looking thrift store in this alley." Beast Boy said with a wink before strutting into a run-down bookstore by the name of_ The Mystical Arts Store for Beginners.

 _Said store was located all by its lonesome in a dark alley with tall buildings on either side. The exterior of the store had several boarded up windows, and a rusty neon sign flickering ominously above it._

 _Despite the outside of the store looking like a safety hazard, the inside was mysterious yet cozy, with candles providing lighting and the aroma of spices stinging Jean's nose._

" _Hullo dears, would you be interested in having your fortunes told?" an old gypsy woman at the counter inquired as she waved a wrinkled hand over a clear glass ball._

" _Ooh, Shiny!" Beast Boy said excitedly._

 _The old lady at the counter took no notice of Beast Boy's green skin, but glanced at Jean when she spoke._

" _No. We are actually looking for a girl: pale skin, dark hair, has a jewel on her forehead, and wears lots of black."_

" _She's my f-friend. I'm just trying to reconnect with her." Beast Boy provided, stumbling a bit over the word 'friend.'_

 _The woman now turned to Beast Boy, studied him, and didn't seem to find him a threat._

" _Rachel fits that description. She spends time with some of my other patrons at a book club near here. I believe there's a meeting going on right now."_

" _Thank you so much!"Jean oozed as the old lady scribbled down an address for the redhead._

" _Are you sure you don't want your fortunes told?" The old lady called as the two teens walked out the door._

" _We're fine thank you!" Jean called back, and the door shut with a thud._

 _The gypsy woman smiled a rather fake smile as she waved good-bye._

" _I wonder what Rachel has gotten herself into now." She muttered._

 **1st off- YAY I had a lot of fun writing this chapter!**

 **2nd off-**

 **Please REview.**

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 **Leave a little note**

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 **I composed that beautiful poem for YOU! (my readers)**


	24. Chapter 23

**Artemis**

While Wally was off playing "schoolchildren" with the X-men, Artemis was devoting her entire being to the very thing that had encompassed her mind since she had arrived in this dimension.

Getting home (preferably with Wally in tow).

Artemis was glad for her father, for once in her life. Whatever he had injected into her body was certainly keeping the Professor out of her head.

And Artemis couldn't have anyone snooping around her mind, not with what she was planning.

The only way to get home was through Sportsmaster. So Artemis had two choices: Comply with his demands, or try to outwit him and get home on her own.

The first option seemed faster and easier.

What Artemis's father really wanted was information. Information about the super-powered inhabitants of the "X-dimension" as Wally had so fondly dubbed it. Artemis just happened to know where a wealth of information on the superpowered occupants of the X-dimension was.

Xavier's institute.

Cerebro.

OK, so Cerebro had been destroyed, but the Professor did say that there were backup files.

And if Magneto's and the Professor's conversation was anything to go by, the files had the profiles and locations of young mutants all over the world. All Artemis had to do was borrow a few files to give to her father. And once her father had sent her and Wally home, she would alert the Justice League, or do something about Lex.

She felt a little guilty about betraying the Professor's kindness like that, but she reminded herself that this was necessary if she wanted to get home.

After all, Artemis stood a much better chance of stopping Sportsmasters and Lex Luthor's plans if she could get the Justice League, or even the rest of her team to help her.

So Artemis "patrolled" the Institute, taking detailed mental notes of the daily life there.

What time did everyone eat breakfast?

Who went to Bayville High and who didn't?

Which of the mutants posed the most possible threat?

When would be the best time to try to get a hold of the files?

How could she get a hold of the files without anyone knowing?

Wolverine was shaping up to be the biggest threat. The power inhibitors didn't seem to be able to stop his powers as well as they could stop the Professor from using his telepathy on Artemis.

Artemis tried to at least be polite to the (non-annoying) students, even if she didn't talk to them much. She generally avoided Wolverine all together. After the hairy intimidating man had bested her at close combat, she had been uneasy around him. He was definitely a threat.

However, after two weeks of scheming, Artemis got a lucky break.

She was walking down the hallway to get lunch, dressed in a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt when she saw Bobby, aka Iceman, talking to Kurt, aka Night Crawler. Normally she would ignore the pair of troublemakers, but at that moment, their conversation was actually beneficial.

"Who knows when Wolvie will get back!" Iceman laughed. "Remember last time, when Professor had to wipe the memories of that bar owner?"

"Yeah, za vas hilarious! Professor chewed out Wolverine just like any ozzer student!" Nightcrawler said with a giggle.

"Wolverine is leaving for a day?" Artemis asked uncertainly, hoping she had heard Bobby right.

The boys turned to face Artemis, Iceman swallowing nervously.

"Uh, yeah. Driving up n-north for some reason. He does it every once in awhile." Bobby stammered.

The young ice mutant was obviously afraid of Artemis. He had tried flirting with her once, and narrowly avoided and arrow in his eye. Ever since then, he had been walking on thin ice around her. Artemis often wished she could relax around the X-men and be a little less uptight, but she was constantly reminded of the fact that although she may have Wally back, she wasn't home yet. And that meant the mission wasn't over yet.

"Hmm. Is he usually gone for a day?" Artemis pressed.

"Sometimes. Sometimes more."

"When is he leaving?"

"Normally he doesn't tell us, but I think he said tonight..." Bobby guessed frantically, not wanting to be subjected to Artemis's icy stare any longer.

"Thanks." Artemis finished her interrogation and continued strolling towards the kitchen.

Tonight she would make her move.

Artemis crouched in the darkness, her dark green suit blending in surprisingly well. She surveyed the long metallic hallway, on the look-out for any traps or alarms.

It was almost comically easy to get the lay-out of the supposedly secret floor beneath the Institute- any of the veteran pranksters knew exactly how to sneak past the lower levels and not get caught.

Artemis glided through the darkness like a shadow, reaching a door labeled "Catalogs."

Pulling out a key card, Artemis swiped it across the electronic lock, and with a green beep she was in.

The key card had been much harder to come by. Artemis grimaced and hiked up her quiver and bow on her shoulder as she remembered how much trouble she had gone through to get it.

 _Flashback; a few hours earlier_

 _Artemis, dressed in a pair black sweatpants and a grey t-shirt stood frozen in the doorway of the chemistry lab at the institute, staring down a huge blue gorilla in a lab coat._

 _12 pairs of curious eyes watched the exchange._

" _Artemis!" The Beast said, looking pleasantly surprised. "I didn't know you would be attending our chemistry class today._

" _Uh, yeah, class. That's what I came here for." Artemis replied, sitting down in the nearest chair._

 _Truthfully, Artemis had come to Beast's class hoping that he would not be there. There must have been a glitch in her carefully crafted plan, because she could have sworn upsides down and sideways that there was no Chemistry class being held in the lab that day._

" _Well, even though the professor says that I don't have to go to Bayville high, I thought I had better at least come to a few classes." Artemis said with a weak smile._

" _That's brilliant!" The Beast smiled and addressed his class. "I wish some of you would take your studies as seriously as this young lady."_

 _The Beast continued on his rant about the importance of school before actually starting the lesson. "So as you all know, the reason we have this extra class today is so we can all have some hands on experience, and extra credit for those of you who are struggling."_

 _So this class was an extra credit oriented project. That would explain why Artemis had been unaware it was even going on._

 _A few of the students looked excited. Most of the students looked unamused- probably because they were there for extra credit. As Beast described how substances "A" and "B" would mix together and form a reaction, Artemis caught sight of something in his lab coat pocket. A key card._

 _Exactly what she needed._

" _...to keep you from causing any unnecessary fireworks. DO NOT mix substances without permission, I'll give them to each group one at a time. But first, would a volunteer like to come up here-"_

" _ME!" Artemis yelled, not waiting for a response before coming to the front of the classroom to stand beside Beast._

 _The teacher looked positively overjoyed to see such enthusiasm. The students still sitting looked vaguely relieved, except for Roberto, aka Sunspot, who was obviously disappointed._

" _Artemis, then. Take substances 'A' and 'B.'"_

" _Like this?" Artemis asked picking up two clearly labeled beakers._

" _Now mix them together, carefully." Beast instructed._

" _Like this?" Artemis asked as she mixed the components together._

" _Exactly." The Beast replied, "Now be sure you don't spill-"_

" _Like this?" Artemis interrupted, stumbling and 'accidentally' dropping the mixture on the table where it came into contact with other chemicals, fizzling and bubbling._

 _All the students laughed at the mishap and Beast's panic stricken face, until Beast shouted_

" _OH NO! This particular mixture of chemicals might create an-"_

 _BOOM!_

 _Students dove for cover, as noxious smoke and flames started to fill the room. The fire alarm started ringing, and the Beast shouted,_

" _OK CLASS, LETS VACATE THE PREMISES IN AN ORDERLY FASHION!"_

 _All that happened was a lot of screaming and running around on the student's part._

 _Amidst the chaos, no one noticed Artemis slip the Beast's keycard out of his pocket and into her own._

The door labeled catalogs swung open, and Artemis pulled a small flashlight from her belt. It didn't have as many useful items as Night Wing's or Robin's utility belt, but it was still useful. The room was full of random, junk, filing cabinets, exercise equipment, just name it,. Searching the cluttered room, the farthest cabinet in the back looked promising. Artemis approached it and noticed that it was labeled, ' _mutant records'._

For a second, Artemis hesitated. If she stole from these people, there would be no going back; her actions would have consequences.

Artemis thought about the mutants. She didn't wish being kidnapped and experimented on by Lex on anyone, but if she gave Sportsmaster these files, she would most likely doom an unknown number of young mutants to that fate.

She placed a tentative hand on the handle.

' _It's not my problem. This isn't even my world.'_ A tiny, heartless part of her thought. ' _This what I have to do. For Wally. For the team. For myself.'_

Artemis was about to open the drawer when she heard a small startled noise come from the doorway. Artemis's flashlight flicked off immediately, and she ducked behind a pile a half-broken exercise equipment.

She expected a teacher or student to catch her red-handed. Instead, a figure dressed in all black, complete with a mask like a burglar, strode into the room.

"Someone has already been here. Searching for the same thing as I, perhaps? The real question is whether they have left, or if they are still here." The man in black said.

Artemis recognized his voice, but couldn't place it. He definitely sounded like a villain though, complete with the urge to monologue to himself unnecessarily.

Artemis hoped he wasn't after information about the mutants too. Then again, why would someone break into a records of a school for mutants?

"It really is a shame that the redhead destroyed Cerebro. Paper files are much harder to handle." The burglar continued, probably to the little voices in his head.

Yep. He was definitely there to get the files on the mutants, just like Artemis.

He began to inspect the room, as if looking for something. Artemis stayed hidden in the darkness. The man seemed to be lacking in the areas of stealth and subtlety, as well and common sense. Artemis though she heard him say he "wish'd he brought a flashlight."

He approached the area of the rooms where Artemis was hiding, and she swiftly and silently moved out of the way. Now she was in the back corner of the room, hiding behind a trash bag filled with who knows what. Annoyed, she watched as the man opened the filing cabinet labeled ' _mutant records'_ only too see it was empty.

Immediately an alarm started to flare, the lights turned on, and Artemis was glad it hadn't been her who had opened the file drawer. Still, Artemis had to get out of there fast, and it would be hard to do that with the lights on and alarms blaring.

A feral growling was heard, And a man in a yellow and blue costume swaggered into the room, followed by a man in a wheelchair.

"Looks like our trap worked." Professor X stated.

"Listen, BUB, you don't have any idea of who you just messed with!" Wolverine growled.

' _Wolverine!? He's supposed to be gone tonight!"_ Artemis thought.' _Ugh. Why did this simple mission have to become so complicated?'_

"I know exactly who I'm dealing with, the burglar replied, ripping off his mask to reveal…

 **1st off- YAY. CLIFFY!**

 **2nd off- *drops to knees and starts crying* Please review! :) If you do it I will update super fast! (Probably).**


	25. Chapter 24

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE.**

 **Because the school year is starting, you can expect much much much less frequent updates. Maybe one chapter a month, or every three weeks. I'm really sorry, but with early bird classes, AP classes, and sports, there is really only so much I can do.**

 **Jean**

( _Still a Flashback)_

" _So this book club is where we'll find Raven?" Jean asked, as she followed Beast Boy down the street._

" _Yup!" the teenaged superhero replied, popping the 'P.' "At least, I think we'll find her here…"_

 _A bit of Beast Boy's natural confidence seemed to dissolve. "What if she doesn't want to see me again? What if we don't even find her in time for the Titan's reunion?!" Beast Boy questioned no one in particular, stopping in his tracks._

 _Jean set a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder._

" _We'll worry about that later. For now, let's just check this book club." The redhead comforted him kindly._

 _The two had stopped in front of a rather large, library. A sign hung in one of the windows, saying,_ BOOK CLUB! Join today and discover the world of reading! _Jean entered the library only to turn around and see Beast Boy frozen to the sidewalk._

" _Umm, I need to check on something." he lied._

" _Come on!" Jean commanded, getting a little bit frustrated._

" _I, uh, don't want to." Beast Boy whined as his companion grabbed him by the ear and pulled him into the library._

 _As she pulled, Beast Boy (literally) turned into a green chicken, squawking and flapping his wings in protest. Jean scooped him up and continued walking._

 _The pair received several angry glances and a few frustrated shushes. Jean strolled up to the check-out counter, green chicken in hand._

" _Hi, could you tell me where the book club is meeting?" She said cheerfully, as if this was an everyday occurrence._

" _Um… Of course!" The librarian, a tall gangly man in his late twenties nodded and pointed down the hall, trying to ignore the struggling green chicken. "Room 208. But you aren't supposed to have animals in there."_

" _We won't be any trouble." Jean assured the librarian cheerfully. "We're just looking for his friend."_

" _The chicken's friend? Nevermind, just go find your friend and get that chicken out of here, OK?" The librarian looked terribly confused, but allowed them to enter the book club meeting._

 _Flashback paused_

"Jean, this is all, interesting, but I really need to talk about-." Night Wing interrupted, earning annoyed glares from all of the Teen Titans.

"Hey, dude! She's telling a story here!" Beast Boy cried indignantly.

Night Wing glared in frustration when he realized that Jean had gathered an audience.

He was obviously glad that Jean was leaving pieces like her name and her powers out of the story, but he still seemed nervous that the former titan's could discover Jean's identity

"We were just getting to the best part!" Cyborg lamented, "I need to know if Beast Boy finds Raven!"

Raven, who was sitting on the couch still, rolled her eyes and stated dryly,

"Obviously they found me."

 _Flashback continued_

 _The book club consisted of a few teenages siting akwardly in a circle of chairs in the corner of the library. There was a shy looking, nerdy girl, with her hair pulled into pigtails. She sat quietly, hugging a book labeled_ Magic for Beginners _tightly to her chest. A pale skinned, dark-haired goth girl, who Jean assumed to be Rachel was looking borderline annoyed as she flipped through the pages of her book on_ Sorcerers Throughout the Centuries. _Next to her, another teenager a red-haired boy shuffling a deck of cards and holding the book_ Magic Tricks for Dummies.

 _However, there was also a group of teenage boys who Jean guessed were not a part of the book club- these boys looked more like your group of standard high school bullies. At the moment the group of teenage boys was confronting the book club. The leader of the group seemed uncannily similar to Duncan Matthews who tormented Mutants back in Jeans home dimension._

" _Wow! Finding the nerd herd at the library! Who saw that coming?!" One of the boys said sarcastically as the others laughed._

 _The way the group of much older, taller teens swaggered around the small circle of plastic chairs was like a pack of wolves circling prey._

" _Shut up, Jake." The ginger boy responded angrily._

 _Jean could tell that the book club wanted to be left alone, however, the boy with the deck of cards looked especially defiant, as if he was used to dealing with mockery. Pigtails was obviously scared however, looking like a nervous wreck, but not making a sound. Despite all this, Rachel remained completely calm and emotionless; she continued silently reading her book._

" _Excuse me?" Jean managed to say before the group of teenage boys taunted the book club any more._

" _Who are you?" Asked the ginger boy defensively, glaring at the newcomer._

" _Look, another weirdo. What's with the green chicken?" The sarcastic boy, Jake, commented._

" _I'm looking for Rachel." Jean said._

 _At that, Rachel's head snapped up, and her eyes narrowed. Beast Boy, who was still in the form of a chicken, nervously averted his eyes from Rachel's glare._

 _Now that Jean was a little closer, she could see a small red stone set into Rachel/Raven's forehead, just as Beast Boy had described to her. To Jean's surprise, Rachel/Raven replied,_

" _No. I'm not. You must have got the wrong book club."_

" _What are you talking about Rae?" The ginger book club boy said in confusion, "You're the only Rachel at our school. This is also the only book club."_

 _Rachel/Raven was giving Jean a look that said 'LEAVE NOW!' but all she did was gently turn a page in her book, glaring at Jean and Beast Boy all the while._

" _Ooooh, Drama. And I though all nerds were boring." Jake said, his friends laughing._

" _You're not wanted here Jake-" The ginger boy said, trying to get Jake the jerkwad to leave. He nervously shuffled his cards a little faster._

" _You got a problem with me? Sorry, but if you want to talk to me, loser, you need to make an appointment. And let me check my planner, I can make time for you… NEVER." Jake leaned in towards the ginger boy and said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "You got a problem with that?"_

 _Then, without warning, Jake shoved the ginger roughly, so that the (much) smaller teen tripped backwards over his chair, landing painfully on his rear end._

 _His cards fluttered slowly to the ground around him while Jake stood proudly over him._

 _Jean's first instinct was to use her abilities on Jake, but she stopped herself when she felt the mental barrier. She couldn't use any of her powers her, and neither could Beast Boy. Jake and his friends were bullies, not criminals. They didn't exactly deserve to be telekinetically thrown across a room. (Ok, maybe Jake did, but he probably didn't deserve the wrath of the Phoenix, who didn't really discriminate between bully or victim anyways)._

 _And if Jean tried using her powers again, there was always the chance of that oh-so fragile barrier in her mind breaking, and releasing the Phoenix._

 _And she couldn't risk that._

 _Not unless she wanted a public display of the supernatural._

 _Little did Jean know, a public display of the supernatural would be exactly what happened._

" _STOP!" A surprisingly authoritative voice yelled._

 _It was the pigtails girl. She was standing on top of her plastic chair, and holding her book,_ Magic for Beginners, _above her head._

 _Jake and friends laughed, a few swirling their fingers around their heads in the universal sign for "crazy." The ginger boy glance upwards, craning his neck to look at her from where he sat on the floor._

 _Rachel/Raven was staring at the book as if it were alive._

" _Sadie, what are you doing, it's just a book." the ginger said, looking worried for her friends mental state._

" _No it's, not! It's a magic book!" Pigtails girl, who was apparently named Sadie, argued. She glanced upwards towards the book she was still holding in the air. "That's- That's what the old lady said! If I put on the bracelet then you guys would never bother me again!"_

 _Jean noticed that an innocuous looking charm bracelet was dangling from Sadie's wrist._

" _Wait, are you talking about the woman who works at the store_ The Mystical Arts for Beginners? _Is that where you got the book?_ " _Jean asked._

" _That old store? The one with the creepy witch? That store's a joke!" One of Jake's friends taunted._

" _Yeah, everything in that store is a fake!" Jake agreed._

" _No. These will pay for their misdeeds! I will avenge this book club with MAGIC!" Sadie squeaked._

 _At this, Rachel/Raven looked alarmed, which was saying something, since it was Raven._

 _Jean could feel a strange source of power emanating from Sadie; it didn't take a telepath to sense it. It was obvious that the others in the library felt it too. The group of bullies slowly backed away, while the members of the book club looked even more worried. Only Jean, Raven, and the green chicken that was Beast Boy stood unmoved._

" _Let's get out of here, man." One of Jake's cronies suggested._

" _If you think a kid half my height is gonna scare me, off, then- then you're a chicken! "Jake protested._

 _Beast Boy squawked in indignation, but nobody noticed._

 _Despite Jake's words, a strange amount of tension remained in the air, hovering about Sadie like a fine mist._

" _Sadie, don't mess with things you don't understand." Rachel/Raven warned dryly._

" _You don't understand!" Sadie shouted, "I've put up with these jerks for years, and I am tired of it!" her voice reached a feverish pitch._

 _Jake let out a slow laugh, turned to face his friends._

" _See, she's just crazy. She makes a huge deal out of stupid stuff. If anything, it's annoying."_

 _A loud sob was heard as Sadie winced at Jake's words. Whether she was crying due to frustration or embarrassment, Jean didn't know. Probably both. The charm bracelet began to glow._

" _Sometimes, I just get so, so, frustrated! SO, SO ANGRY!" She screamed._

 _Jean was a bit taken back. There was a difference in Sadie's voice now. She almost sounded like a different person. She snarled in an animalistic manner._

" _The charm has been activated." Raven commented warily. "I was afraid this might happen."_

" _What? That bracelet has real magic?" Jean asked, appalled by the sudden violence._

" _The bracelet is charmed. It feeds off the rage of the wearer and grants them unstoppable strength, but often drives them mad in their anger."_

 _Sadie launched herself at Jake, trying to strangle him. Surprisingly, the small, pigtailed girl was able to knock the tall teenage boy off his feet! She throttled him with her fists, quickly knocking him unconscious. Blood was dripping from Jake's face, and the boy obviously had a broken nose. A couple of Jake's friends tried to pry Sadie off of Jake, but she turned on them with a savage snarl and began to attack them as well._

" _Did you know this was going to happen?" A new voice cut in._

 _It was Beast Boy. He had transformed back into his normal self at the beginning of the Sadie attack._

" _I suspected. I've been tracking down dangerous magical objects like this one ever since I left the Teen Titans. Why are you here? I thought you wanted a normal life." Raven asked. Suddenly Raven was shrouded in blackness, and when it dissipated, she was wearing a long black cloak._

" _I was looking for you, but something tells me this mess is going to need cleaning up first. I mean, that girl is kind of destroying the library as we speak." Beast Boy returned, gesturing to the chaos that had gripped the library._

 _Sadie had overturned several shelves in her haste to attack Jake. The ginger boy had quickly jumped away in fear, and the librarian was rushing across the library to see what the commotion was about._

 _Raven and Beast Boy leapt into the fray, trying to protect the civilians but also stop Sadie without hurting her. Jean was amazed at how well the two worked together, as if they had done the same thing many times before. Raven moved the civilians away while Beast Boy(gorilla form) tried to hold back Sadie. Beast Boy was promptly thrown across the library room, smashing a few dozen book shelves and a piece of community art work in the process._

" _You can't just out-muscle things!" Raven instructed._

" _Uh, what else should I do?" Beast replied, transforming into a tiger, trying to pounce on Sadie._

" _Don't kill her!" Raven said with the barest hint of emotion. She threw up a black energy shield, separating Sadie and Beast Boy. "Outsmart her."_

 _Sadie pounded on the shield in anger, smashing a plastic chair against it and effectively destroying random objects in her magic-fueled rage._

 _Raven used her telekinesis to lift Sadie, squirming and frothing at the mouth, into the air where she couldn't attack anyone._

" _Destroy the bracelet!" Raven commanded._

" _Well you could have just told me that!" Beast Boy shot back._

 _He then turned into a peregrine falcon and swooped through the air, ripping the bracelet from Sadie's wrist. At once the girl became limp. Beast Boy landed and with a flourish, became human(ish) once more. Jean was impressed that she hadn't even had to use her powers at all._

" _It's always the quiet nerdy ones that go cuckoo. Is she completely out? I don't want to have to fight her off again." Beast Boy poked Sadie as Raven gently floated the unconscious girl to the ground._

" _Sadie was nice. She just had temper problems and got mixed up in some dark magic." Was Raven's annoyed response_

" _Ugh, you're just as bossy as I remember."_

" _I didn't even need you. I was fine on my own." Raven said dryly._

" _So you're hunting down magical artifacts now? You broke up with me because told me you wanted a normal life!" Beast Boy was shouting._

" _I didn't know that you two had a history." Jean added, but Raven and Beast Boy ignored her._

" _I told you that to protect you! This life is dangerous. I'm dangerous! I'm a monster! I left you because I didn't want you to get caught up in this kind of thing." Raven returned, gesturing to the rubble that surrounded them._

" _I don't care! I love you, Raven! You're not a monster to me!" Beast Boy shouted ignoring the gathering and curious civilians._

" _Honestly, could this be anymore cliche._ New Moon, _anyone?" Jean interrupted._

 _The arguing couple glanced at her, almost forgetting that she was still there._

" _You two used to date?" Jean asked._

 _Raven looked away as Beast Boy explained with a blush,_

" _We used too. Towards the end of our careers as Titans, we were pretty close. But Raven broke up with me when the Titan's disbanded.."_

" _I thought you wanted a chance at a normal life. You couldn't have had that with me. After all, you didn't care when I left." She said hoarsely._

" _I thought YOU wanted a chance at a normal life, that's why I didn't try to stop you from leaving! I thought you thought that you were better off without me! That's too much thinking for my brain to handle!" Beast Boy exclaimed in surprise._

 _The smallest of smirks graced Raven's face._

" _Of course it was. Why are you here?"_

" _So I was planning this reunion thingy, and I need a date…" Beast Boy started._

 _Raven raised a single eyebrow, and in response Beast Boy turned into a puppy. Raven sighed._

" _Please?" He whimpered._

Cyborg high-fived Beast Boy.

"That's my little Beastie Boy! I taught him everything he knows, including how to be smoooooooooth with the ladies!"

"Puppy dog eyes worked every time!" Beast Boy boasted, while Raven rolled her eyes in annoyance.

The Titans laughed except for Night Wing, who pulled Jean aside once her story was finished.

"This was really… cool, I guess. I'm whelmed." He said awkwardly. "I'm glad I got to see the Titan's again. I hadn't realized how much I- I missed them."

Jean nodded.

"I see you with the Young Justice team and I know just how important your friends are to you. Also, I was really bored sitting alone in that tower with nobody but Beast Boy for weeks."

Night Wing facepalmed.

"You were supposed to be LYING LOW!" The way he nearly shouted 'lying low' undermined the meaning of the words.

With a grimace, he continued,

"But that doesn't matter anymore. I think I've found a way to get Wally and Artemis back."

 **1st off- Review**

 **2nd off- IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE.**

 **Because the school year is starting, you can expect much much much less frequent updates. Maybe one chapter a month, or every three weeks. I'm really sorry, but with early bird classes, AP classes, and sports, there is really only so much I can do.**

 **3rdly-Another Author's note: Jean is telling a story about this flashback, but she leaves out things like her name and the Phoenix while actually telling the former Titans the story, so she's not completely blowing her cover. I hope that makes sense.**


	26. Chapter 25

**CH 25. I am sorry that this is being updated so slowly. But here's a chapter.**

 **Artemis**

 _A feral growling was heard, And a man in a yellow and blue costume swaggered into the room, followed by a man in a wheelchair._

 _"Looks like our trap worked." Professor X stated._

 _"Listen, BUB, you don't have any idea of who you just messed with!" Wolverine growled._

 _'Wolverine!? He's supposed to be gone tonight!" Artemis thought.'Ugh. Why did this simple mission have to become so complicated?'_

 _"I know exactly who I'm dealing with, the burglar replied, ripping off his mask to reveal…_

"Magneto!?" Wolverine growled in surprise.

Professor Xavier's face continued to exude calmness.

"I didn't think you'd take it this far, Erik. I thought you had finally started to see things from my point of view." Was his only response.

"You mean the point of view of the pathetic humans! You know me better than that, don't kid yourself Charles." Magneto raised a hand and Wolverine flew against the wall, pinned there by his adamantium skeleton.

"I had pondered why you took a sudden interest in the X-men. I correctly guessed that it was to investigate possible mutants that you might convert to your hatred." A frown grew across the Professor's face.

"I don't care about your approval, Charles! Where are the files about the mutants? The ones from Cerebro?" Magneto's voice grew angrier as he questioned his old friend.

"There are no files." Charles sighed

"What!"

' _What!'_ Artemis thought. ' _This definitely throws a wrench in my plans. I still have to do something about Sportsmaster.'_

Yet there seemed to be more going on than would appear at first glance. The blond archer silently resolved to get to the bottom of this.

A group of X-men, their hair tousled and dressed in pajamas, stood in the doorway, wide-eyed.

"What's going on Professor?" Bobby asked. "What's Magneto doing here?"

Before Magneto could say anything else, the Professor rolled calmly over to him. Magneto thrust out his hand, but nothing happened.

"Plastic, Erik. Plastic. When I go suspicious of your motives I made sure to bring my completely non-metal wheelchair out of retirement. I had hoped I was being paranoid."

Magneto's eyes narrowed in anger. A simple gesture of his hand and his powers caused the metal door of the filing room to crunch into place, effectively locking out the X-men. Cries of indignation and pounding were heard, but the lower levels of the Xavier's Institute were made to withstand mutant attack.

"You've got to answer my questions now Charles. It's just you and me and my metal plaything over there." Magneto smirked.

"Hey!" Wolverine growled.

"How long did you suspect me for? Why didn't you turn against me first?" Magneto asked, never at a loss for words.

"I wanted to give you another chance, Erik."

"Too many chances if you ask me!" Wolverine grumbled from where he was pinned against the wall.  
With flick of his fingers, Magneto glued Wolverine's adamantium jaws shut.

"What I want to know," Professor Xavier continued, "Is how you shield your mind from my presence, without the use of your helmet. I can sense the barest trace of emotion, but nothing more. As if there is something working against my abilities. It is… uncannily… similar to one of my newer wards."

Charles Xavier's eyes flickered across the room until they came to rest on the place where Artemis was hiding.

' _He knows I'm here.'_ Artemis gasped mentally. ' _But is this a threat or a plea for help?'_

"A mutant with the same abilities? That would be impossible. It would mean that the child was from another world." Scoffed Magneto arrogantly, thinking that his words would confuse the Professor.

"Oh, so then you've had contact with a different dimension? Interesting. Is that where you acquired this new ability?" The Professor asked innocently.

Magneto was rather taken back by Charles's apathy.

To Artemis, however, things were clicking into place.

 _Lexcorp has been to this dimension before. And I thought Night Wing was the one who developed the portal technology. Lexcorp has made contact with the people of this world before- Magneto at least. But why was Magneto looking for the same things as I? "_

"So, why did these extra dimensionals grant you this gift. Was information the price?" Charles Xavier questioned.

"I work for nobody! I simply took their trust and their gift and intended to use them for my own purposes! They were all too willing to supply me with what I needed to defeat you."

Wolverine was making annoyed throaty noises as he strained against the power of magnetism.

Artemis was deep in thought over what all this could mean.

' _So Magneto was approached by Lexcorp, but he didn't pan out as a reliable resource. That must have been a while ago. Then all of this business with Wally happened and somehow Night Wing made a portal device and-"_

"I sent my Brotherhood to retrieve the files and destroy Cerebro, but the only thing they did was the destruction part. That's when I took things into my own hands, using this new power!" Magneto boasted.

"Incredible! you have truly made contact with people from another dimension." Now the Professor was laying it on a little thick.

Smugly, Magneto nodded.

Egging him on, the professor asked,

"Have they contacted you again? How did they give you this ability?"

Magneto faltered in answering. Perhaps he knew his friend knew him too well. Even if Charles did not have his supernatural abilities he could always draw the truth from Erik.

"I must have information Charles. NO matter what form. Perhaps you would serve well." A hint of nervousness entered Magneto's voice.

Artemis started to doubt his claim about not working for anybody. Lexcorp could be a force to be reckoned with. How long had they had their claws in the master of magnetism? Magneto took a threatening step towards the Professor.

"Artemis!" The Professor called.

Without hesitation, Artemis shot out of her hiding spot, sliding her bow, already nocked, into place. She let an arrow fly, but Magneto easily deflected the metal tip. Then the master of magnetism summoned Wolverine as a human(mutant) shield and began to back towards the door. At that point he seemingly remembered that there were a hoard of agitated X-men outside the door.

Artemis let a few arrows fly, but they all hit Wolverine who, despite grunting what sounded like cuss words, was actually functioning as a pretty good shield.

As Artemis dodged random pieces of metal junk that were being thrown at her, she drew a special arrow from her quiver.

When she fired it, glue-like substance poured out and engulfed both Wolverine and Magneto, freezing them in place. While the villain was momentarily stunned that an arrow could even do such a thing, a knockout arrow relieved him of consciousness.

The Professor rolled his wheelchair over to Artemis, who was still standing, bow ready, panting a little.

"Artemis." he acknowledged.

"I knew that we couldn't trust her-" Wolverine's jaws were now free and he was threatening some pretty nasty things if the glue didn't wash out of his hair.

"You never told us that others from your dimension had been here before." The Professor said. He did so in a gentle voice, not the least bit accusing.

"I didn't know… At first." Artemis replied very quietly. "My father approached me, a little while ago. He wanted information about your world. He was blackmailing me. He wanted the files- the same thing Magneto did."

The Professor took this information in a stride. "I'm not sure what your...father… did to Magneto, but it scared him enough to try a brazen attempt to deceive us, and gave him the ability to block minds just like you."

"In my world we, we have technology. Lexcorp, my dad's boss, created nano-bots you can inject into your bloodstream. They disable mind reading abilities and track you."

"And your father forced this upon you?"

"Yes. No. I guess. I thought it was the only way to get home. You weren't exactly helping, sending Wally to school and all that!" Artemis argued.

The Professor bowed his head."I was trying to help him adjust. He's been having a hard time lately, as you know. I saw how much the X-men had bonded with him. But perhaps you were right. Maybe I should have been more focused on trying to get you two home."

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad that the professor wasn't over-reacting and understood her point of view.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, PROFESSOR!" Wolverine practically howled from the pile of messy, hardened glue. "We can't trust her! She was trying to steal from us! And she probably would have succeeded if we hadn't set this thing up!"

"Wait, this was a set-up?" Artemis questioned.

"I'm afraid so. Cerebro is a powerful computer. Many people are hungry for the knowledge it can provide. After it was destroyed, I suspected that it was being targeted, so I set this up to flush out anyone who would try to double-cross us."

Artemis flushed with guilt at the word 'double-cross.'

"Wolverine, you make a valid point. But I am sure that miss crock never meant to bring harm to us." The Professor justified.

Meanwhile, Wolverine was trying to hack his way out of the glue via adamantium claw and the X-men were still trying to get in past the mutant proof doors. The Professor glanced around at the mess in the file room. He surveyed the destruction caused by the battle that had taken place over virtually nothing.

"This might be for the best. I think I have an idea."

 **Wally**

Wally remembered why he hated high school. At first, he had thought it would be fun to see what school was like in another dimension- it was still school.

The X-men made school bearable, but Wally still bristled internally every time he saw one of them mistreated by a teacher or called a rude name.

The worst part was definitely Pietro and the Brotherhood. They had spread a rumor that Wally was a psycho-mutant who shouldn't even be let on school grounds. The result was something akin to all non-mutant students avoiding Wally like he had the plague.

And the teachers. Don't even get started on the teachers.

The Brotherhood had also started a series of pranks that had been consequently blamed on Wally.

In one of Wally's classes Pietro had waited outside the class for Wally to leave class to use the bathroom. Once Wally had left, Pietro had ran inside at full speed creating a vortex that caused papers, food and books to fly everywhere. When the dust settled, ' _W was here.'_ had been spray-painted across the teacher's desk with red spray paint. It was hard for Wally to explain how a can of red spray paint had ended up in his backpack a day later.

Wally was considering dropping out of this high school now, but that would mean he would have to spend all day at the X-mansion and eventually face Artemis, and he wasn't sure he was ready to do that yet. So he continued to trudge through a dreary existence of name-calling and bullying at school and avoiding Artemis at the Mansion.

The same day that Artemis would spend finalizing her plans to get the coveted mutant files, Wally found a surprise on his locker. Wally's locker had all kinds of vulgar jokes sprawled across it in some kind of paint, the most telling being a phrase saying

' _Traiter to the brotherhood'_

"Wow. They spelled traitor wrong. And vandalizing my locker? Cliche." Wally mumbled half-heartedly when he saw it.

Wally felt too tired to try to come up with a prank to get the brotherhood back- he was definitely losing the prank war. A group of Jocks passed through the hallway and saw Wally's locker.

"Poor mutie!" One of them called, and the others laughed.

"Even the other mutants don't like him!" Another boy announced.

Luckily Kitty and Rhaine were the next people to approach him. It was at lunch. When Wally was sitting on his own at an abandoned table, staring bleakly at the empty seats.

"Hey, Wally. We're worried about you." Kitty said as she slid into a chair next to him.

Rhaine offered Wally a chocolate milk, that he just stared at with the same vacant expression.

"Mm." Wally mumbled noncommittally.

Kitty frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean? You haven't been acting like yourself since you started coming to school here. It's like you've given up on life."

"I guess."

"STOP IT WALLY!" Kitty shouted in frustration.

Wally was a bit startled by Kitty's sudden change in tone.

"Stop feeling all sorry for yourself just because you had a fight with Artemis, then ran away, and the high school turned out to be sucky! BIG SURPRISE! HIGH SCHOOL SUCKS!"

"What are you talking about?" Wally questioned. He avoided eye contact with Kitty or Rhaine and choose to look at the little brown cow that decorated the milk carton.

Rhane began to explain things.

"I know that you feel depressed right now. You're far away from home, wherever it is; you're fighting with your girlfriend and hardly ever see her; And now the brotherhood as making it sound like you're some kind of evil mutant, and all the human students hate you."

"And you've basically given up on talking to Artemis. All you do is avoid her." Kitty added

"I feel so much better, thanks Rhaine, Kitty." Wally retorted sarcastically.

"But you have the power to change things! You can talk to Artemis! The old Wally we first met wouldn't give up over something like that." Kitty said fiercely.

' _Maybe they're right. I have been pitying myself lately. Snap out of it Wally! You're the KF! KId FLash doesn't let girl troubles depress him! Kid Flash doesn't put up with bullies!'_

"I think… you guys are right." Wally admitted hesitantly. It felt like a weight coming off his shoulders. "I've been coming to Bayville High to avoid my problems with Artemis. I've let my fear of being rejected turn me into a depressed zombie for too long!" Instantaneously he opened the milk carton and chugged it heroically.

Rhaine gasped sarcastically. "Wally West can admit that he was wrong?"

Kitty smiled. "We really were worried about you. I was afraid you might start wearing guy-liner."

"I considered it." Wally joked.

The trio laughed, but then Kitty became serious again.

"Wally, you really do need to fix things with Artemis. It's what I've been saying all along, hasn't it? But you can't go speeding into it without thinking first, and you definitely shouldn't get all depressed if things don't turn out your way the first time you talk to her. I can tell that she's suffering too."

Wally nodded, albeit hesitantly.

He was going to fix things. The right way. He wasn't giving up.

 **1st off- It might seem like Wally was a little Ooc for this chapter, but I honestly think that if Wally was stranded in this situation, he would occasionally get depressed. However, he is Kid Flash, so he would overcome these feelings eventually.**

 **2nd off- I'm so sorry that this is so late!  
I'M SORRY!**


	27. Chapter 26

**Hi guys. I know it's been a while, so here are two new chapters.**

 **Jean**

"Wait, so you think selling Jean to Lexcorp is gonna help her somehow? That's messed up bro! " Beast Boy protested as Night Wing explained the plan.

Night Wing face-palmed.

"Beast Boy? Were you even listening? SOMEBODY please explain the plan to Beast Boy." Night Wing said in a condescending tone.

Beast Boy had brought into the circle of confidence once it was discovered that he had been keeping Jean company in the Titan's Tower. The small, furry green boy honestly cared about his redheaded friend, and was now determined to help her get home.

There was silence from Impulse and Blue Beetle. Jean decided to save them.

"You're going to get access to Lexcorp's portal device by convincing them that you have apprehended me and are bringing me in?" She summarized.

"Exactly. We are going to trade Jean for a portal device. I've already gotten everything all planned out. Once we have the device, we can get Wally and Artemis back. Once Wally and Artemis are back, it will be a lot easier to convince the Justice League that Jean isn't the bad guy. Then we send Jean home." Night Wing explained.

"So we're selling Jean to Lexcorp, so we can get Wally and Artemis back? How will that help-" Beast Boy started to ask more questions but was interrupted.

"We're not actually selling Jean to Lexcorp, Beast Boy. And it will help. If Wally comes back, it changes EVERYTHING." Night Wing's voice was so passionate and sure that no one dared challenge him.

The silence and tension was palpable. Getting Wally back WOULD change everything- but it couldn't be done without sacrifice.

"We might not be able to save Jean! Is she even O.K. with this plan?" Beastboy defended.

"Trust me, I've broken into Lexcorp tons of times to steal all kinds of things; my plans always work-out fine."

"But I thought you said that no way in ever worked twice." Blue Beetle said hesitantly.

"Yeah, what about the Justice League and the rest of the team? Do they know about this?" Impulse asked.

Night Wing hesitated; he could tell that his younger teammates were unsure of his plan.

"I'm a bit worried as well. I don't like the idea of being traded for a piece of equipment." Jean quipped, wanting her voice to be heard.

Night Wing answered their questions calmly, albeit a little disappointed in his teammates anxiety. "This 'equipment' is what can get you home, Jean. And yes, the Justice League suspects me. They know I'm not just going to leave Artemis and Wally stuck there- wherever 'there' is. That's why we've got to act now. I've already alerted Superboy and Aqualad; The whole YJ team is good with the plan so we're putting it into action tonight. "

The other heroes shared a glance, not wanting to point out an obvious flaw in Night Wing's thinking. In the end, it was Jean.

"I thought there was another member of your team? That girl with the green-skin."

"Jean, you put M'gann's uncle (her only family on this planet) in the hospital. She's not thinking rationally right now."

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't include her." Jean argued.

"Jean, if we were in a different situation, I would include M'gann. But I'm trying to help you get home, alright?"

Jean checked her reply. The thought of home sent a tangible pang of longing through her. She missed her home, her friends, and her family. And she was so close to getting home that she could feel it. The overwhelming emotion cased the Phoenix to stir gently within her. That was the last thing she needed at the moment, especially when she had been doing such a good job of keeping it subdued without a collar or telepathic assistance. So instead of arguing, she curtly nodded.

 **Lexcorp**

Lex Luthor had been watching the two worlds. In his private laboratory at Lexcorp, two large screens displayed the comings and goings that were happening in each dimension. His reach was fairly limited in places, but he had seen enough to know that the two parallel universes were strikingly similar. Each had their own heroes, villains, origins,and backstories. But one world had something that the other did not. A naturally occurring X-gene. One that didn't need to be implanted or awakened by alien technology.

"Truly fascinating." Lex remarked to himself as he scanned the reports on the mutated individuals from the other dimension. "I must find an actual test subject as soon as possible."

Lex considered contacting Sportsmaster, who was somewhere in the foreign dimension, to retrieve a specimen, but a stack of papers on the corner of his laboratory desk caught his eye.

Picking up the frail paper in his large hands he read out loud,

"Results show that the dimensional tear is exacerbated each time the barrier is breached. It is hypothesized that if a permanent connection is not reestablished soon…"

Lex trailed off, scanning the rest of the report in silence.

He had been afraid that this might happen; after all, messing with the unknown was a highly dangerous science.

Some of the operatives that Lex Luthor had sent through to the other side had complained of a strange side effects after their travels.

Hallucinations, paralyzation, and even death.

Oh well. Lex Luthor would have to find a mutant soon, but in his own dimension. His mind flashed back to a recent news story that he had assumed was about a possible mutant who had somehow wound up in the wrong dimension.

"What was it? _Hot Redhead Battles Superman?_ " Lex mused to himself, turning to his computer intending to research this conundrum.

Suddenly, his computer flashed red; there was a virus breaking through the encryption. Lex frowned because he knew his computer security system was state of the art- there were only a few hackers worldwide who could break into his computer. Deciphering the computer-gibberish with a few clicks, Lex realized what someone had been trying to do. Someone had sent him a message.

Lex allowed the message to open and smiled in cruel delight at the irony.  
Not a message-a business proposal.

 **Timey Wimey Skippity Skip**

 **Superboy**

"That's the fifth time." Superboy prodded.

He was met with silence, just as he had been while the camera footage was playing.

 _"I- I don't think that will turn out too well." Jean said shakily._

 _"You would resist?" Martian Manhunter asked calmly._

 _"No, not me." Jean murmured, almost too quietly to hear._

Superboy was a person of few words; the strong silent type. M'gann, she was the complete opposite, a constant chatterbox coupled with a bright and outgoing personality. Yet at the moment, M'gann was the one who was silent.

Ever since Martian Manhunter's accident, M'gann had been moody, and in her interactions with others she had been either evasive or confrontational. Put simply, M'gann had been acting a lot like Superboy- and Superboy didn't like this.

On top of this, Night Wing had gone and told Superboy his idiotic plan that involved Jean: a can of worms Superboy tried his best to avoid around his girlfriend.

Despite M'gann's threats, she had not done much to destroy the girl that had reduced her uncle to a vegetable.

' _If talk to her about Night Wing's plan, that might change.'_ The thought came to Superboy's mind unbidden.

He repeated himself a little softer.

"That's the fifth time."

"Fifth what?" M'gann replied flatly.

"Fifth time you've watched it."

Silence emanated from M'gann as she remained hunched over the laptop sprawled across the table in front of her. The couple sat in the kitchen/ dining area in Mt. Justice, a place that seemed dark and silent without the team's cheery banter.

"That video. Watching it won't change what happened."

The video that M'gann was watching kept playing on loop

 _"I am a very experienced telepath. I must begin now." he said without any emotion._

 _"NO, wait!" Jean said, unwilling to let her mind be invaded by a strangers._

Superboy closed the laptop before Jean could again watch the footage of her uncle's mind being ripped from his body by a crying red-headed young woman.

"The video ends here. The footage shorts out and stops playing. They said it was because of the telekinetic blast that girl sent out at the end. The one that almost killed Nightwing." Jean's voice turned bitter.

"Jean just wanted to get away from us. She was scared and losing control, like I was at first." Superboy argued.

"You didn't put someone in a coma, Superboy!" M'gann replied, refusing to meet her boyfriend's eyes.

"I could of."

M'gann was silent. She knew those words were true. She knew they were true, but she desperately rejected them. Superboy could tell. Because if those words were true, it would mean that Jean wasn't he horrible monster that M'gann had vilified her as. It would mean that Jean wasn't the enemy, she was the victim, and M'gann couldn't accept that yet.

"I hate this. You know that right?" M'gann stated matter-of-factly. "I hate that the other world, because it took Wally, and then Artemis, and my uncle, and nearly Night Wing."

Superboy took a deep breath.

' _I have to tell her about the plan! She's still a part of our team. Night Wing told me about the plan because he wanted the team's approval.'_ he argued with himself internally.

' _Don't do it!There's a reason that Night WIng is hiding his knowledge of Jean from Miss M. What if she becomes crazy killer M'gann like she was before!?'_ A tiny piece of superboy feared this possibility.

' _Well, what if she finds out you've been keeping secrets from her! Secrets about Night Wing's plan for Jean-''_

"Why are you thinking about Jean?" Miss Martian's voice cut into Superboy's internal dialogue.

"You read my mind?" Superboy asked dumbly.

"I heard Jean's name surface within your mind. Something about a plan." Miss Martian asked defensively, grimacing as she said Jean's name.

Superboys exhaled, knowing that he could not hide anything from his mind-reader-girlfriend.

"Night Wing knows where Jean is."

"What!?" M'gann's screech was so loud Superboy was surprised it could not be heard outside of mt. Justice.

"Let me finish, please, before you go flying off and do something incredibly un-M'gann-like." Superboy suplicated.

M'gann glanced down and realized that in her sudden burst of emotion she had leapt off her chair and was hovering above the table in mid-air. The green-skinned girl sheepishly floated back down to her seat at the table, and Superboy smiled to see something akin to M'gann-ness back in his girlfirend. Hoping this wouldn't go terribly wrong, he continued.

"Night-Wing has this plan…"

 **1st off-I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in over a month… I've been very busy, and sadly, I can't exactly devote my entire life to fanfiction (trust me, If I could I would).**

 **2nd off- I love this story, but I am hoping to end it soon. When I was writing the ending, I had a really good idea and got so excited that I literally jumped out of my chair and threw my pen at the wall!**

 **3rdly- because you have been so patient, dear readers, I reward you with two chapters!**


	28. Chapter 27

**Wally**

Confidently, Wally sped through the hallways of Bayville HS. Feeling like he was finally doing something after days of moping around in depression, he stopped in front of his locker, glancing at the crude words written across it. A familiar sinking feeling in his gut reminded him that he would never truly be welcome in this world. At the very least, he wouldn't be hero-worshipped like he was in Central City.

' _But as long as I have Artemis, that's O.K. That's what I've needed to realize all along.'_ he told himself.

A couple of boys walked by, the two nerdy students that had been picked on during Wally's first day at Bayville.

"Look at the mutant!" One of them laughed.

"I bet his deoxyribonucluic acid has a genetic anomaly!" The other sneered, pushing his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.

"Oooh, you burned my DNA. Savage!" Wally shot back, feeling more and more like his old, banter-loving self.

"At least I'm not a freak." The boy shot back.

"At least I can spell 'deoxyribonucleic acid.'" Wally smirked before speeding off towards the X-mansion

 **Artemis**

Artemis was surprised when Wally burst into the professor's office. She was even more surprised when he got down on his knees.

"I know this sounds really repetitive, but I am actually sorry this time for-acting-like-a-stupid-jerk-and-ignoring-youandfightingwithyou..."

Wally's apology sped up to the point where Artemis couldn't even understand what he was saying, so she just did the obvious.

SLAP

The loud sound of Artemis's infamous backhand rang out through the professor's office.

Wally was stunned into silence.

"Thank you for realizing the obvious." She muttered, rolling her eyes. Artemis took the opportunity to pull him to his feet, and into a kiss.

Artemis could help but thinking,

' _I've finally found you, Wally.'_

Yes, Artemis had found Wally, physically, weeks ago. But in that moment, Artemis realized that the two stubborn heroes had finally overcome the emotional gap that had continued to separate them.

Almost as if the ginger speedster had read her mind, he pulled Artemis a little closer like he was saying,

' _I've finally found you too.'_

Taking a deep breath a few seconds later, Wally said,

"I think we both needed that. Does this mean you forgive me?"

"I think so. And I'm sorry too, because I've been just as stupid, jumping to conclusions and getting worked up over nothing." Artemis admitted.

"I got you to kiss me AND apologize?! I must have done something right!" Wally replied with a wink.

Wally leaned in again, but was interrupted by a "ahem," from the professor.

Turning beet red, Wally stammered,

"Uh, hi, um professor. I was just trying to make ou- I mean, um make up with Artemis."

Wally seemed to notice that Wolverine was also in the room.

"Kids these days." the gruff mutant grumbled.

The barest hint of a smile graced Professor Xavier's face.

"Artemis and I were just discussing her attempt to retrieve cerebro's files, without our knowledge, or our approval." The bald man said sternly.

"Wait, you did what?" Wally asked.

"She was coerced by her father to steal files on mutant's from Cerebro, in exchange for passage home." The Professor explained.

Artemis offered no comment- when she heard it plain and simple like that there seemed no excuse for her behavior. Her betrayal.

Wally took a deep breath, and Artemis braced herself. After all, she knew how important the X-men had become to Wally. WHat would he think of her actions?

"Artemis, I know that you haven't stopped trying to get home, and I thought that getting home had become the most important thing to you. Now I realize, that as long as I simply have you, whereever that may be is- is home enough for me." Wally stuttered the last part a little bit, his face turning a shade similar to his hair color.

"Actually," the professor added "We believe that Artemis may hold the key to getting you two home, and Jean as well."

Wally immediately sobered up.

"How?"

"Miss Crock was attempting to retrieve files on mutants, files that are coveted by many, including Magneto, and Miss Crock's own father."

"Sportsmaster? How is he here?" Wall interjected.

"Just listen." Advised Artemis. "We think that we've figured most of this out."

"The company that Miss Crock's father works for…" The Professor hesitated.

"Lexcorp." Artemis provided.

"Thank you... Lexcorp, developed technology that allowed them to cross the dimensional barrier into our world. They established first contact (we don't know how long ago) with Magneto, whom they provided with nano technology similar to what is in Artemis. This allowed their minds to be shielded from telepaths-"

"Wait, I'm confused!" Wally cried.

"Let the Prof. talk, kid." Wolverine grunted.

"As I was saying, Magneto used this technology to get close to us. In return, he was supposed to get files on the mutants of our world for Lexcorp. Presumably, they wish to study our kind. At some point during this time period, Wally, you entered our world and met the brotherhood. Magneto tried to have his brotherhood be the ones who retrieved the information from Cerebro, but they botched the mission and Cerebro ended up destroyed."

"This is starting to sound familiar." Wally mused.

"Artemis then came through from the other dimension to bring you home, but was trapped here."

"Less confused, but still puzzled. I'm confuzzled." Wally updated.

Artemis continued the narrative.

"When I came through, something stopped us from going back. I'd be willing to bet that it was Sportsmaster, he attacked us right before I came through the portal. Apparently he as free range between our worlds. Now I know that he was working for Lexcorp. A few days ago, my da- Sportsmaster, visited me. He told me that he needed information. In exchange, he would take me home, and leave me alone. He doesn't know you're alive."

"So what's the plan? Knowing you, Artemis, there's a plan."

"Actually, The Professor came up with it." Artemis nodded.

"Yes. Our plan is approach Sportsmaster, and overpower him, plain and simple."

"I like this plan. Just for the record." Wolverine growled in the background.

"But Sportsmaster has a power dampener in the form of a watch. It will take a lot of force to get it off of him." Artemis reminded herself, her eyes downcast. "I don't think that just Wally and I could do it."

Wolverine snorted with laughter.

"What did you think I was going to do? Sit around two kids go off to fight a crack-job on your own."

"What?" Artemis questioned, taken back. She hadn't thought that the rough man cared about anyone other than himself.

The professor simply smiled and added.

"Artemis, The X-men care about you and Wally. Even though we are trying to help you get home, I still see you two as a part of our family. I'm sure the X-men would be more than willing to aid you."

"But, Professor, you'll need to tell the X-men that Jean's still alive and-"

"I know, Wally. But if you two are an example of anything, it's that sometimes, honesty and communication is are what's needed." The Professor acknowledged.

 **The X-mansion**

 **(A few confuzzling hours later…)**

"Vait, I'm confuzzled." Kurt said as he crouched on a chair in the professor's office.

"When you told me Wally and Artemis weren't from around here, you really meant it!" exclaimed Kitty, rocking back and forth in her seat.

The Professor had gathered some of the original X-men to inform them of everything that had been kept in the dark. Including where Wally and Artemis were truly from, and his suspicions about Jean being alive. Most of the X-men seemed shocked, although a few seemed understandably upset.

"Ya never thought 'bout tell'n us that there were some sorta interdimensional aliens livin among us?" Rogue asked, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"We wanted to keep that part on the down low. We didn't think we would be here for long anyway." Artemis said.

"So, you lied about being a mutant? Vere your stories a lie?Vas our friendship a lie?" Kurt questioned wally, glaring at him.

"Where I'm from, metas are kind of the same thing as a mutant, right?" Wally defended weakly.

"I doubt it. Don't exactly trust you to be telling the truth now." Kurt said angrily, turning his nose up at Wally.

"Come on man, we're not different people, I'm still same ol Wally. I just saying that-"

"You're saying Jean is alive." A low, quiet voice was heard.

The X-men turned to see Scott, sitting calmly in the corner of the Professor's office.

For the past few weeks, Scott had been living like a recluse, staying in his room all day, only coming out at night to eat, or train. Nobody would have realized that Scott had even left his room during Wally and Artemis's entire stay at the mansion if they hadn't seen the brand new scorch marks that lined the danger room every morning.

Scott was shaking slightly.

"Why… didn't you tell me?"

Although his eyes remained covered by his ruby glasses, his voice betrayed the agony he felt.

"I didn't want to give you false hope, Scott. In your condition, it would be extremely dangerous for you to-" The Professor tried to appease Scott, but could not succeed.

"To what?" Scott, asked, his voice dropping dangerously low.

"Easy Kid." Wolverine grunted, "You can hate us later, but for now, we think we might have a way to rescue Jean."

"By fighting dis portzmazter? Ve cannot fight him if ve do not have our abilities." Kurt argued.

"Yeah, and how are we supposed to trust little-miss-bow-and-arrow. Sounds to me like she was willing to betray us to her daddy for a ride home." Rogue added.

"Hey, no one's asking you-"

"This was a stupid idea-"

"What's wrong with you all!" A voice shouted, interrupting the arguing. All heads turned to see Kitty, who had raised her voice in a desperate attempt to get the attention of her team mates. "Wally and Artemis are still our friends, our family. Whether they're from this world or not, they are still X-men." Kitty looked Wally in the eyes as she continued. "I understand why you would want to hide this from us. You were in a new world, afraid and lost and you didn't plan on staying here long-" Now she turned her gaze to Artemis, and the blond returned the stare warily " -but I want you to know that you can trust me. I'll fight with you."

The tender moment of silence lasted for about two seconds before Kurt started clapping cheekily and wiped a fake tear from his eye.

"Bravo, Keety. That was truly beautivul."

"Does this mean you're in, fuzzball?" Wally teased, sensing that some of the tension between the two had dissipated at Kitty's passionate words.

"I'll put up vith you, even though you are an alien, because you are good at ze pranking. Almost as good as ze master!" Kurt said with a bow.

"Dude, I'm not an alien. But seriously, are we good?" Wally insisted.

"Is too bad that I can't stay mad at your alien face for long."

"Hey, come visit my home dimension and I'll introduce you to real aliens- green skin and super powers and everything!" Wally smiled.

The Professor turned to Rogue and Scott.

"Well?" he implored.

"Kitty has a point. X-men till the end. And I ain't one to point out the flaws in other people's heritage. And, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I'll do it fer Jean too."

Only Scott was left.

"For Jean." He said coldly, rising to his feet. "I'll do it for Jean."

 **1st off- guacamole to any of you who can spell the word that DNA stands for.**

 **I did a spelling bee… once…. In third grade… and lasted one round.**


	29. Chapter 28

**Jean**

"The Package is in place, I repeat, team leader, the package is in place." The voice crackled through a tiny ear bud that was nestled in Jean's ear.

"Do you have to refer to me as 'package?' It's a little demeaning." Jean commented dryly as she shuffled back and forth in the twighlight.

It was nearly dawn and would be light in a hour.

Ideally, the "exchange" would be over by then.

"I didn't chose the code names, Jean." Blue Beetle replied via coms.

Jean looked around quickly, she couldn't see any of her other new friends but she knew they were close by from the com in her ear. Reaching up, she fingered the inhibitor collar nervously.

"Stop that." Came Night Wing's ever commanding voice. "If that collar was really powered on it would shock you."

Jean jerked her hand down, glancing around the empty junk yard again. The Junkyard where Jean would be "exchanged" with Lexcorp was large and mostly empty. A few pieces of rusted metal debris lay scattered near the fence, but the yard seemed mostly to be filled with dirt. Jean was awkwardly standing next to Night Wing, who remained calm and collected as ever, and Blue Beetle, who seemed uncharacteristically quiet.

Night Wing had said that the Junk Yard was a dumping ground for Lexcorp's failed projects- apparently Lexcorp didn't fail very often. Jean was a veritable nervous wreck, but was at the moment pretending like everything was completely fine.

A black van pulled up into the Junk Yard parking lot. A couple of tall men in black suits got out, glancing around stoically, hoisting some kind of weapons over their shoulders.

"Crash! I thought those guys only existed in movies." Impulse exclaimed over the coms.

Although Jean couldn't see any of her (dare she say it) new friends, she knew that they were close by, ready to rush in at a moment's notice. Jean shivered involuntarily when Lex Luthor exited the vehicle. He was an imposing man, tall, broad-shouldered, bald, and wearing a unattractive smirk on his face.

His intelligence was what scared Jean the most. The seemingly innate cunningness reminded Jean of something Wolverine had once told her.

' _Sure, someone who relies on brute strength can be out-maneuvered, but someone who's smarter than you? He's the one you have to watch out fer.'_

The tall, bald man entered the Junk Yard, flanked by his security detail, and a young woman in a business suit. She was carrying a small, silver briefcase.

Jean's heart rate elevated.

' _Is that it?'_ she thought.

The briefcase was ordinary looking, but it's contents were what really mattered. It's contents were much more than a piece of technology; a collection of metal, wires, and computer chips; it's contents were a way home.

Lex Luthor didn't give Jean Grey a second glance. Instead approached Night Wing slowly but surely, stopping a few feet away from him as if there was a line drawn in the dirt between them.

"Well?" Night Wing asked.

Lex Luthor smiled, a small fake smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Of course. I am a businessman, afterall. If I didn't keep my word, my reputation would be ruined."

Jean refrained from commenting about how Luthor's reputation already seemed to be quite reprobate.

One of the men in the black suits walked up to Jean, gripping her firmly by the arm. Jean tensed involuntarily, repulsed by the painful grasp of the much larger and intimidating man.

"She won't act out… or you don't get the device. Only I have the activation code." Lex insisted.

Jean let herself be half dragged half escorted over to Lex. Jean felt the Phoenix almost jump back to life inside of her, straining against the mediocre mental blocks she had established. Jean was anything but reassured by its presence; if the Phoenix acted out now it would throw a wrench in the plan. Night Wing had to get his hands on that portal device. That was how Jean was getting home.

The security guard began to half drag half pull Jean towards Lex Luthor.

' _However intimidating he might be, I've fought off worse… The Juggernaut, Blob, Magneto…'_ Jean encouraged herself by listing off former villains in her mind. The effect was almost calming.

Blue Beetle's arm morphed into a strange looking device, and he scanned the Briefcase with his alien technology.

"Yep. It's the real deal." he assured NIght Wing after a moment of silence.

Night Wing stepped forward, reaching toward the briefcase. He was seconds away from closing his hand around the metallic object when…

"YOU!"

Framed by the setting sun, a certain Martian was floating above the Junk Yard. All eyes turned with Miss Martian. "Sorry Lex, Night Wing, I have a bone to pick with this telepath."

Her eyes glowing green, the Martian sent a blast of energy towards the grouping of people, sending them sprawling in the dirt. The portal device flew from Night Wing's hands. Instantly, Luthor's bodyguards, and a dozen more that materialized from thin air, began open firing on M'gann, and Night Wing. Managing to look graceful while doing so, Night Wing sprung up off the ground and took out the guard nearest to him with a well placed punch. Quickly taking cover, he began shouting orders to his team who had engaged Luthor's crew.

"Impulse, get the device! Blue, BB, protect the package and pull back, Miss M-"

Miss Martian ignored whatever Night Wing had been about to say. Sending another telekinetic blast toward Lexcorp guards, she flew towards Jean and locked eye with Jean.

When the action had started, Jean had decided to stay low, and avoid the gunfire. Retreating from the superhero battle, feeling useless without using her powers for fear of the Phoenix, Jean stiffened when the Martian girl flew towards her.

"Wai-" Jean was barely able to get a word out before she felt a strange sensation pulling on the back of her mind. Jean blinked, and she wasn't in a gunfire and superpowered firefight anymore. She was floating in an inky blackness. The blackness faded away to a place Jean recognized- Her childhood home.

She was standing in her living room, furnished with a warm and homey feel, just like she remembered it from the last time she had visited her parents. The details were perfect, down to the pictures of Jean as a little girl that sat on the mantle, and the smell of the flowery candle sitting lit on the coffee table near the couch.

' _This is my mind!'_ Jean thought surprised.

Out of nothing Miss Martian appeared, lunging for for Jean's throat.

Quickly dodging, Jean moved to one side, only to be caught in the face by Miss Martian's follow up punch. Jean stumbled backwards, landing against the wall, barely avoiding another punch to the face.

' _Your mind is weak!'_ Miss Martian growled accusingly, ' _How did someone as weak as you almost kill my Uncle!?'_

' _Calm down! I wasn't trying to kill him!'_

' _Sure, you expect me to believe that?'_ Miss Martian summoned a sword and swung it at Jean, who kept dodging.

' _Night Wing says that you're one of the good guys, so I'm trying not to fight back. But you're kind of making it a little hard!'_

Jean rolled, avoiding another blow from Miss Martian. Utilizing her surroundings, Jean grabbed an iron poker from the nearby fireplace, parrying the blows that rained down on her. Maneuvering around her Jean used the power to thrust the sword from Miss Martian's hands.

' _I'll give you another chance, I didn't want to hurt anybody. I have this thing called the Phoenix that takes control of my body and does- bad stuff!'_

' _Real convincing!'_ Miss M shot back. Conjuring up psychic energy, she tried to blast Jean, but only succeeded in putting a hole in the wall. Jean winced as she peered into the next room. Her old bedroom, actually. Jean couldn't defend herself for much longer, without using her full strength. If Jean used her full strength, then the Phoenix could take control and wreak more havoc.

' _That's it! The Phoenix!'_ An idea struck Jean.

At the same time, Miss Martian tried to grab ahold of Jean, but the older red head twisted out of her grasp, suddenly thankful for the danger room sessions she had spent with Wolverine. Jean bolted into the hallway, taking the familiar turns and twists to end up in her bedroom. The bedroom of a little girl who had been required to grow up the first time she heard the word "mutant".

In the corner of the room was a small bird cage, covered by a black tarp. Jean rushed over to it, almost hesitating at first. Then Miss Martian burst through the wall, enlarging the hole.

' _Sorry.'_ Jean whispered, and with a pull, she uncovered the bird cage.

A huge burst of white and blue flame poured forth from the cage , engulfing the room. Jean felt its power flow through her body. Time slowed down; Jean could see the horrified look on M'gann's face as the fire slowly spread towards her.

At the same time, Jean became aware of the battle happening outside of her mind, also in slow motion.

' _How easy. How easy would it be to kill the green girl, kill Lex Luthor, kill Night Wing take the device, and go home.'_

The thought came to Jean unbidden. Jean's eyes focused on the Phoenix, a haze of light that looked somewhat similar to a small pet store bird. It fluttered against the cage in slow motion, trying to break free. She quickly banished it away. Raising the tarp, she recovered the bird cage.

The fire stopped as instantly as it had appeared. Miss Martian hadn't been touched, but the mere exposure had been enough to bring her to her knees.

The green girl was gasping on the floor, blinking her eyes in pain.

' _The phoenix always chooses a telepathic host. I didn't get a choice.'_

Calmly, Jean walked over to her bed, and sat down. ' _I want it gone. But for now, while I'm here in your world, the best I can do is control it. I'm sorry for what it- I- we did to your uncle.'_

Miss Martian finally looked up. Taking a rasping breath, she whispered,

' _You're apology means nothing. It all means nothing as long as my uncle stays a vegetable.''_

M'gann didn't try to get up or fight. It seemed like the passion had completely gone out of the Martian. Jean took a deep breath, a idea forming in her mind. She wasn't sure if it was a good one, but it was the best one that she had at the moment.

' _In my world there's this guy called Professor Xavier. He's a powerful telepath. If there's anyone who can help your uncle, it's him. But if you want to meet him, then I need to get home._

Miss Martian got to her feet shakily, and slowly approached Jean.

' _I guess... Thanks? I mean- I'm sorry for going all vengeful on you.'_

Miss Martian reached out her hand tentatively, and Jean returned it firmly. She had been in dark places before. Jean understood the pain of losing people who were special to you, and more importantly, the effect that it had on your mental health.

' _I'm Jean.'_

' _M'gann.'_

The scene of rubble faded away, and once again M'gann and Jean were standing in a junk yard at dusk.

Night Wing and Superboy (who had apparently shown up during Jean and M'gann's mental showdown) were taking out the last of the Lexcorp baddies.

It seemed that Luther himself had even been taken down by NIght Wing, who was currently tying up the large man who was unconscious. Apparently Lex had tried to run, but had been taken down by a bird-a-rang to the back of the head. Left was a pile of unconscious baddies and a briefcase.

 **Artemis**

Artemis wasn't surprised when her father found her first. As soon as she left a five mile radius surrounding the X-mansion, she felt a strange presence, almost as if she was being followed. She had "borrowed one of Wolverine's motorcycles, and was heading towards a small isolated beach, where she assumed her father would be able to find her. Little did he know, there would be a whole ambush of X-men waiting for him.

Artemis smiled as she walked along the uninhabited piece of rocky coast line. The small beach, probably a mile long at the most, seemed empty, but the X-men were waiting in advance. The Professor had chosen this spot because it was far enough away from the mansion and Bayville that (theoretically) a major battle shouldn't cause any harm.

A lone figure appeared on the edge of the beach. The figure got larger as it approached unsteadily, filling out as the form of a large bulky man.

"Father." Artemis greeted him coldly, not daring to glance at his face.

"Artemis." Sports Master's voice seemed just as strained.

"Do you have the information? About the mutants and about this world?" Sportsmaster prodded after a moment of silence.

"Do you have the device?" Artemis returned.

Sportsmaster grinned a little, and then nodded. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a smaller, much sleeker looking model of what Night Wing had constructed in the living room of his apartment.

That day felt like another lifetime to Artemis now. Artemis reached into her bag, which had accompanied her to the beach, and pulled out an envelope. Grabbing the device from her father's hands, she quickly handed him the envelope. Sportsmaster didn't even open it. Artemis took a troubled step back, surprised that everything was going so well.

"Now!" She shouted.

The X-men suddenly appeared in every direction. Kurt teleported next to sportsmaster, Cyclops revealed his location behind a tree, Kitty phased through the ground to stand next to Artemis, and Wally sped to her sides as well.

"Ha! Bet you didn't see that coming!" Wally taunted.

IN hindsight, Artemis wasn't sure what she was expecting from her father: a snarky comment, for him to fight back, a lecture about the strategy of ambushing someone who you needed to make a deal with.

Instead, he simply put his hands up and said with a sigh

"I surrender. Hi Kid Flash. I suppose you and Artemis will want to go home, and the mutants will want their little red-headed friend back?"

"Vell, dat vas easy." Kurt commented.

Artemis frowned. Her father had never been this complacent in his life-was he being sarcastic?

Cyclops strode forward, grabbing the man by the collar.

"Yes we would. Now show us how to open the portal and get Jean back!"

Sportsmaster laughed slowly.

"That's not going to happen. Not if you want to live."

 **1st off- Sorry if there are any grammatical errors, the last three chapters have not been edited yet.**

 **2nd off- REVIEW! :)**


	30. Chapter 29

**Wally**

 _Previously_

 _Cyclops strode forward, grabbing the man by the collar._

" _Yes we would. Now show us how to open the portal and get Jean back!"_

 _Sportsmaster laughed slowly._

" _That's not going to happen. Not if you want to live."_

Wally was suspicious. Sure, sometimes Sportsmaster made empty threats, but Sportsmaster didn't go down easily. Sportsmaster didn't let an angry mutant push him around. What was happening?

Scott's brow furrowed.

"Don't threaten us! Can't you see we have you outnumbered?"

Sportsmaster snickered, and shoved Cyclops off of him with a strength the younger man didn't expect. The rest of the X-men immediately tensed, but Sportsmaster made no further move to attack.

Instead he requested,

"Go get your Professor. I'm only going to explain this once, and it's best that he hears it.

Artemis glanced at Wally, who nodded, and sped off.

 **Night Wing**

NIght Wing was so close, he could taste it. He surveyed the damage the battle had done, miraculously- it wasn't too bad. The Lexcorp goons had been taken down quickly, and even Lex Luthor had been apprehended. Sure, this wasn't how NIght Wing had planned for the mission to go, but he had the portal device and his friends escaped fairly unscathed. As Beast Boy tied up the unconscious Lexcorp guards, Superboy approached Night Wing cautiously.

"Night Wing, I-"

The former bat protege rounded on the half-kryptonian quickly.

"Telling Miss M wasn't a part of the plan, Superboy. You nearly jeopardized our whole mission."

"Miss M deserved to know. If anyone can rise above hatred and vengeance, it's M'gann."

Night Wing looked around for M'gann, who he hadn't seen since the battle's beginning.

She was standing with Jean, of all people, talking calmly, not trying to kill the other girl. In fact, M'gann even seemed- hopeful.

' _Maybe I misjudged M'gann.'_ Night Wing thought briefly before turning to assess the rest of his team.

"Impulse! You got the portal device, right?"

Impulse zipped up to Night Wing, still holding the briefcase that was a little more scratched up, but completely intact.

NIght Wing opened it, to reveal a smaller, sleeker version of the device he had built in his living room. A device that had caused so much trouble in his world, and to a major extent that he didn't doubt, trouble in other worlds far beyond his.

"I kept it safe, yep. Carried out my part of the mission. One little problem, though. Don't we sorta need a password?"

Night Wing nodded, and then turned to M'gann and Jean, who were now listening.

"I don't think we'll have too much of a problem getting that out of Lex."

M'gann met Night Wing's eyes.

' _Got your head on straight?'_ he asked mentally.

' _ONLY if you do.'_ she replied.

' _I get it. No more secrets.'_

' _Yeah. and no more revenge.'_ Miss Martian continued out loud. "I'll see what I can get out of Lex. We need an activation code, or a password, right?"

Night Wing set to work on the device, while Miss Martian knelt down and placed a hand on unconscious Lex Luthor's forehead.

Lex's body stiffened, and Miss Martian frowned. "He has some pretty tough blocks for a non-meta human. Nothing I can't crack, of course."

Night Wing plugged an electronic gadget to the portal device and called out

"I'm ready when you are, M'gann."

"It's a series of numbers…" M'gann responded, her eyes glowing briefly. "1… 7…" Miss Martian hesitated before finishing "...2011."

Night Wing entered the numbers as Miss Martian rattled them off. The rest of the team watched in anticipation.

Night Wing gently pressed a few buttons on the device he had worked so hard to obtain.

"Wait, there's something else, something wrong-" Miss Martian began to start important sounding sentence, but trailed off when she saw the glowing doorway open in front of her.

The team released a collective breath that they had been holding. Impulse broke into a smile, pumping his fist in the air and cheering, Blue Beetle sighed and muttered,

"Let's not do this again. Ever."

Superboy, jumped back in surprise, examining the doorway, while Night Wing squared his shoulders, thinking that this nightmare would finally come to an end. He glanced over and saw Jean, staring into the glowing rectangular hole in space.

A way home for her. A way home for Wally and Artemis.

Lex Luthor's strangled voice ruined the moment.

"What have you idiotic children done?"

 **Wally**

This was bad news.

"Something always goes wrong!" Wally yelled, punching the wall of (already ruined) Cerebro in anger.

Sportsmaster had assured the X-men that he wasn't going to attack them, wasn't going to steal the portal device, and wasn't going to destroy anything. So they had brought him back to the X-mansion, where he had demanded to be taken downstairs to see the Professor and the ruins of Cerebro.

In the place where Artemis had first appeared, Sportsmaster had explained how he was dying.

Also the universe. The Universe was also dying.

Reach technology was never meant to be adapted to human hands and wills and greed.

The dimensional barrier was not supposed to be crossed.

Human beings, albeit meta humans and mutants, were not made to cross said barrier.

As a result, the universe was slowly being killed every time someone crossed the dimensional barrier.

The X-men stood silent.

"Explain again." the professor requested, his hands folded underneath his chin.

Sportsmaster shrugged.

"I've been travelling back and forth for awhile now. Last time I was home, the scientists told me that I had exactly two more trips in me. Anymore than that and either the universe would implode or fade from existence, or I would implode or fade from existence."

"Hopefully the latter." Wally muttered, only to be elbowed by Kitty.

"The Scientists were wrong on two accounts." Sportsmaster scoffed. "Because you two, and that red-headed girl came through. After that, I got a message to stay in this dimension. Lex isn't gonna reopen the portal anytime soon because he doesn't want to jeopardize the universe. So you two are stuck here with me." A note of bitterness entered Sportmaster's voice.

"What was the second thing they were wrong about?" Artemis inquired.

"I only had one trip left in me." Sportsmaster said, bending over, and rolling up his pants leg, and taking off his shoe and sock.

Half of Sportsmaster's left foot was gone. There was no blood, gore, or stump. The foot simply faded away like it had been erased with a giant eraser. Sportsmaster had stuffed the end of his sock so his shoes would look normal.

Evidently the man was graceful and resourceful enough to be able to walk normally with half of his foot missing.

Wally hadn't noticed that Sportsmaster had been limping, but he did now understand why the older blond man hadn't put up much of a fight.

"I'm gonna puke." mumbled Kitty, turning extremely pale.

"Professor… what if- what if that happened to Jean?" Scott's face dropped, as if he had learned of her death all over again.

"It doesn't hurt." Sportsmaster laughed ironically. "I didn't even notice it at first. Started in my middle toe, and spread slowly, like some kind of disease."

Without thinking, Wally kicked his shoes off, tore his socks off, and frantically searched his own feet for any sign of deterioration.

"Artemis, you check your toes too!" He called nervously.

Artemis continued to stare silently at her dad's foot.

"It doesn't happen on your first time across the dimension, or even your second time. BUt if you were to keep going back and forth, you might end up like me." Sportsmaster mused, pulling his half stuffed socks back on.

"What does this mean?"Scott mumbled, trying to comprehend the situation.

"It means that you kids aren't going to be opening a portal anytime soon." The Professor said, his voice deflating a little.

Wally took Artemis's hand.

"That's alright, Professor."

"Excuse me, Wally?" The Professor looked a little confused, like he expected the X-men, including Wally and Artemis, to fight him on this.

"I really don't want to be responsible for the destruction of the multiverse." Wally admitted sheepishly. "So if that means staying here, then I'm good. Uh, sorry Artemis."

Artemis smiled. Kurt gasped in fake shock. Artemis shot him a glare before turning to Wally and the Professor.

"I agree with Wally-" she was interrupted by another fake gasp for Kurt, and continued once Kitty smacked him in the face, "I've realized that as long as I have Wally, I can find a way to be happy. I'll never forget our old team and friends, but it wouldn't be so bad to make some new ones too."

"Yeah! Here that, universe? We don't need a portal home to be happy." Shouted Wally.  
And with that, a glowing rectangular portal appeared, as if on cue.

"Vasn't me!" Kurt shouted, jumping away from the door. "I don't vant to dizappear."

All of the X-men jumped back in fear as well, not wanting to disappear either.

"SERIOUSLY?!" yelled Wally.

 **Night Wing**

This was a disaster. Emphasis on DIS. Night Wing had just opened the portal when Lex luthor had woken up and explained to them the problem- the universe was basically falling to pieces because of all the trans-dimensional activity that had been going on.

"So, maybe if we close the portal right now, we can stop it from breaking apart any further!" Impulse suggested.

"Unless any of you are technological geniuses smarter than me, there's no way you could send a person through that without putting the rest of us in danger as well." Lex laughed.

The redhead tried to grab the device from Night Wing's hands, but NIght Wing wrenched it away from his grasp.

"Did you hear that? It sounded like talking? Night Wing questioned.

"Well, duh! Lex has been explaining to us how the dimensional fabric is being ripped apart for the last two minutes! Get your head in the game, hombre!" Blue Beetle also tried to grab the device, but Night Wing glared at him and ordered the team

"Everyobdy, QUIET."

For a few seconds, everybody, including Lex was silent. Impulse was about to open his mouth when they heard it.

"SERIOUSLY?!" It was Wally's voice, coming from the portal.

Instantly, the team was crowded in front of the portal, shouting into it.

"Wally!"

"YOU"RE ALIVE!"

"BRO BRO BRO BRO!"

"GUYS SHUT UP!" That last part was Night Wing.

Another moment of quiet, and then came Wally's voice once again.

"GUYS? ARE YOU THERE!?"

"WE ARE!" the young justice team chorused in unison.

"Wally, where are you?" Night Wing called into the portal.

"I"m in this little town called Bayville. Artemis is here too. These guys called the X-men have been taking care of us."

Jean's gasp of air when she heard the words "X-men" seemed to render her speechless for a moment. Then she pushed Night Wing aside and screamed into the portal,

"SCOTT! PROFESSOR!"

"Jean!" unfamiliar voices were heard from the other side of the portal, followed by a deafening cheering.

"JEAN'S ALIVE!"

"Can I talk to Scott?" Jean yelled through the excitement.

"I'm here Jean!" It was a man's voice, presumably Scott.

"Scott, please tell me you'll live your life without me, if that is what it comes too."

"What are you saying, Jean? I love you! I'll never stop trying to get to you!"

Tears rolled down Jean's cheeks. She took a step towards the portal, but an arm held her back. Night Wing silently shook his head.

"Oh my gosh, guys, how do we tell them?!" Miss Martian whispered. "How do we tell them that they can't go home?"

"Don't come through the portal! It'll destroy the universe!" Artemis's desperate voice came from the portal next. "My father is here and told us all about it. If we don't close this soon, we could cause the multiverse to implode, or something."

"Artemis! We know! Can you hear me? It's M'gann."M'gann stepped forward, speaking towards the portal.

"M'gann?" Artemis's voice choked a little. "Take care of the team, O.K.? They can be kinda stupid sometimes."

M'gann rolled her eyes and blinked in an effort to hold back tears.

"Hello, Megan. You know i'm not any smarter half the time. Stop talking like you guys won't make it home."

Silence.  
"You guys did so much for us. Just know that we can be happy here. We have friends. A family. We'll never forget you guys." It was Wally's voice again.

"Tell Green Arrow, and Flash and everybody how much they mean to us. They're the people who made us who we are today, and we owe so much to them." Artemis said

"Kid! Artemis! Stop it! I won't give up on you making it home! I've worked too hard for this." Night Wing barked.

Laughter.

Wally's laughter.

Night Wing missed his best friend, and there was a lot that he wanted to say to him, but all he did was stand there and listen to that laughter.

"Night Wing, don't kill yourself (or the universe) trying to get me home. Don't blame yourself either. And stop trying to control everything. Seriously! I'm gone for a year and you nearly destroy the multiverse trying to bring me back. Let me rest in peace."

Night Wing opened his mouth to argue, and he shut it. He opened it again, but only stared into the glowing doorway of light. Struggling internally, he wanted to grant Wally's last request, but he also didn't want to give up on his best friend.

Somebody laid a hand on his arm. It was Jean. The person he had used and manipulated to get to this moment.

"I don't know Wally, but I know my friends. They wouldn't want me to hurt anybody trying save them."

Struck silent, Night Wing nodded, cleared his throat and answered into the portal.

"O.K."

"Thanks, man." Came Wally's reply.

"Well, this is all very touching, but I hope you kids remember that every second we stand here the universe is ripped a little farther to shreds?" Lex Luthor once again ruined the moment.

"Is that Lex Luthor?" Wally asked.

"How much longer do we have before we have to close the portal?" Beast Boy asked.

"You probably should have closed it about two minutes ago." Lex said.

"WHAT!" The amassed group of heroes on either side of the portal exclaimed.

"Calm down." Luthor said with a smug smirk. "Luckily for you, there is a super powered telepathic entity in our midst that can use its power to cauterize the trans-dimensional rift."

"Is it Jesus?" Blue Beetle asked.

Lex groaned and glared at the superhero.

"No. It's her."

He pointed a finger at Jean.

"Jean!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Yes. When she first appeared, I took it upon myself to study the chaos she caused. Her powers seem to be based from a source not of our universe that is able to transfer between dimensions seamlessly, and therefore may be able to close the rift without any ill side effects."

"Professor, could it work?" Jean called into the portal.

A new voice, one that seemed to belong to an older British man came from the portal.

"The Phoenix force, albeit a malicious entity, is believed to have its origin in another dimension. What Lex Luthor is saying might be true."

Jean turned to Lex.

"What do I do?"

"Fly into the portal, use your telekinesis to manipulate the energy of the dimensional barrier, effectively closing it. Best case scenario, you're home with your friends and family again."

"That sounds easy."

"Worst case scenario: you get trapped between dimensions, you can't do it and we all die, you're sent to a completely new dimension, the multiverse implodes…"

"Alright, I get the idea."

 **1st off- ONE MORE CHAPTER! SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT!**

 **2nd off- If you know the significance of 172011, you get all the GUACAMOLE in the world.**

 **3rdly-Thank you guys so much for reading, reviewing, and following. You guys are what inspires me to finish this thing.**


	31. THE END

**Jean**

She going through the portal. It felt different this time. She moved through it slowly, willing herself to stop before entering her home dimension. The first time, she had flown through it so quickly she hadn't had time to register that there was even an in between place.

She felt kind of bad- after all, ONce she closed the portal, Wally and Artemis would be trapped on the wrong side, and she would be home with her family.

Lex had insisted that it was to dangerous for anyone else to attempt traveling through the portal before Jean closed it, mush to Night Wing's chagrin.

Jean had said goodbye to her friends- Beast Boy Blue Beetle, Impulse, Night Wing, even M'gann.

She had left M'gann with the promise that somehow, she would find a way to save Martian Manhunter, and then get that information back to M'gann.

M'gann had smiled sadly and said.

' _I appreciate that. I really do. Just go home. In this whole mess, somebody deserves a happy ending. It might as well be you. Take care of Wally and Artemis.'_

So that's what Jean would do. Jean felt the subdued Phoenix inside of her, an ever present sensation of confinement. She reached within herself, and let go.

Power. It burst forth in waves of orange and yellow and blue and white. It completely took control of Jean, transforming her into something other than Jean.

The Phoenix.

Luckily for the rest of the multiverse, The Phoenix seemed to realize that there was a job that needed doing. Eyes charged with cosmic energy, the Phoenix spread her arms, grabbing and pulling invisible threads back together, mending the fabric of space and time and other dimensions Jean didn't even understand.

Jean took a back seat, and watched the process, similar to watching a movie. It was strange; seeing something that reveled in destruction actually use its power to create and heal. Perhaps the Phoenix realized that it needed the multiverse to exist, and was thus acting out of self preservation. Still, the way the fire and cosmic energy swirled around the floating girl almost made the Phoenix look beautiful. She wasn't sure how long it took-time seemed rather irrelevant in the in between- but soon The Phoenix began to grow tired.

This was alarming to Jean, after all, the Phoenix was not supposed to be able to run out of energy. The Phoenix sent out a new surge of power and continued to piece the fabric of reality back together. The Phoenix was close to finishing. Mentally, Jean cheered it on, hoping she wouldn't drop dead before finishing her work.

The fiery bird slowed down, and came to a stop. Exhaustion wracked Jean's fragile human body, and Jean felt the Phoenix within her struggle to stay alive. Like a candle going out in a dark room, The Phoenix was extinguished.

"-ean...Jean!"

With a gasp of breath Jean Grey opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a red visor, hovering over her face. It was the perfect Ruby red that Jean had been longing to see.

"Scott-"

Yelling, crying, screaming; in a list of verbs, the X-Men.

Jean was in shock. Definitely in shock. Too tired to sit up, she simply reached towards Scott's face. She almost couldn't believe that she was here.

"Did, I-?"

Scott pulled her into his embrace before she could finish her sentence.

"The portal's gone Jean. I was so scared that we had lost you, but then in a burst of flames you appeared here! You've done it!"

"I… I feel empty." Jean muttered. Although Jean had made it home and restored the multiverse, there was a strange pressure on her chest.

"What do you mean?" Scott replied in concern

"I feel, I dunno, empty." Jean explained.

"Allow me." A comforting voice that Jean had missed spoke out.

"Professor!" Jean half gasped and half shouted as she shot towards the Professor, embracing him in a hug.

The Professor smiled, softly stroking Jean's head. After a minute Jean stood up, trying to retain some small form of dignity as she remembered she was not a little girl anymore. The Professor smiled as he did not fail to notice the tears escaping his protegees mind as he gently placed his hands on her temples.

Jean allowed him to sift through her memories, showing him the whole story and the past few weeks in great detail.

The Professor grunted in surprise and released Jean.

'It's the Phoenix. It's gone."

"Wha-"

"Resealing the dimensional tear took so much energy that the Phoenix was literally burnt out. LIke an old lightbulb. The 'emptiness' you feel is the lack of power and malevolence that you had to repress for so long."

Slowly, Jean's features curled into a smile.

"So… I'm just Jean."

"Just Jean."

"I'm gonna go take, like, a month long vacation."

"That sounds good to me!" Scott added with a smile, embracing Jean once again.

 **Artemis**

Artemis smiled. So this was the "Jean" that everyone had talked about. Jean seemed like a nice girl, (who had just saved the multiverse) that deserved a happy ending. But the sight of the reunion was a little too much for Artemis. The blond archer turned away from the room full of happy, cheering people. Outside, in the long metallic hallway, sat Sportsmaster. He was just lying there, in the hallway like a discarded doll.

"So, heroes saved the day like usual? I suppose you'll haul me off to prison now." Sportmaster scoffed.

Surprising the older man, Artemis sat down, next to him. Taking a deep breath, she pitched an idea that had been roiling around her mind once Sportsmaster had revealed his confinement to the "X-dimension."

"Nah. The X-men are a good bunch. This is a second chance for you, dad. So take it. I know that the Professor would help you out. It's what the X-men are good at. Helping people."

Frantic steps running through the long hallway interrupted the conversation. Forge, of all people, was running down the hallway.

"Eureka!" he shouted "I've done it!"

"Done what?" Artemis asked, jumping to her feet. Anxiety spiked in her chest. What was happening now?

Forge held up a very familiar button-like device.

"The signaller?" Artemis asked. Her mind flashed back to the time when she had been obsessed with the small device. The button like metallic gadget had once symbolized a way home. Now that Artemis knew that any more interdimensional travelling could destroy the universe, it was just a useless piece of junk.

"I found a way to reverse engineer the technology and create a safe way back to your world!" Forge explained.

Artemis's hopes rose, only to be dashed to pieces.

"A non-universe destroying way?" She questioned sarcastically.

Forge, who didn't pick up on the sarcasm replied,

"Um, Yes? It shouldn't cause any universe destruction or ill side-affects."

Artemis's heart skipped a beat.

"You, mean, I can go home without destroying the multiverse?"

"Yep."

"Forge, I may kiss you." Artemis replied, her face completely stoic.

And suddenly, Wally was standing there, next to Forge.

"Ahem. What was that? My boyfriend senses were tingling." Wally asked, suspiciously glaring at Forge.

"Did you guys know that if you used that old technology too much it would eventually destroy the universe?" Forge rambled. "Of course, if you a technological genius like me then no problem is too hard to correct. So I slapped some safety devices and general software improvements on this thing and now it can take you guys home. And even bring you back. And then take you home again. All free of Universe-destruction."

"Forge, I could kiss you too!" Wally yelled.

"Uh, I don't really-" Forge stuttered, before shoving the device into Artemis's hands and running into the next room to see what the "ruckus" was all about.

Fingering the familiar device, Artemis glanced down at her father.

"So, Dad?" She asked. "Ride home is leaving."

In the deepest part of her heart, Artemis hoped her dad would say yes. But she knew that even if her dad came home, there was little chance of him turning over a new leaf while in the pay of Lex Luthor, or in custody of Belle Reve.

So Artemis was secretly relieved when Sportsmaster shook his head.

"I'm not taking my chances, Baby girl. Besides, I thought you wanted me to leave you alone when this was all over?" he subconsciously rubbed his non-existent foot.

Artemis shrugged. "I don't know when we'll be back. We probably won't want to mess with interdimensional travel for a while after this."

"You said 'when.' Not 'if' you'll be back." Sportsmaster pointed out.

"She did say 'when' because we will be back." Wally smiled.

The speedster speed off only to be back in a split second with a piece of paper. Wally was also wearing his Kid Flash suit again- he hadn't worn it for while now (while Artemis had worn her green super suit underneath her clothes almost everyday). Artemis realized that Wally was also holding a note. It was addressed

" _for The X-men._ "

Wally handed it to Sportsmaster.

"Give this to them, OK?"

Sportsmaster nodded. Artemis felt a surge of hope for her father. Maybe he could change and become a better person.

"Are you sure you don't want to go home dad?" She asked again.

Sportsmaster glanced down the hallway at the laughing, celebrating X-men. Taking a deep breath he replied without looking up.

"I've always wanted to be a X-men gig seems as good as any."

When he turned back to face his daughter and her boyfriend, they were already gone.

 **Night Wing**

It was all very whelming. Jean said her hasty good byes, and then flew through the rectangle of light. A few seconds later, it closed. Night Wing felt a strange sense of relief as it did so, but also sadness.

' _There goes Wally and Artemis.'_ he thought.

The Justice League showed up a few minutes later. The sun reached the edge of the horizon, it's first rays shining past the city skyline. Batman was reprimanding the team for not running the plan by him first, Wonder Woman and Superman seemed impressed that Lex Luthor had been caught. Green Lantern was taking Lex's thugs off to who-knows-where, while Night Wing explained the dangers of the interdimensional device and how it had been averted to the Justice League.

"So, Jean's gone for good? She made it safely home?" Superman asked.

"We don't know if Jean lived, but we do know that she closed the portal, and saved the multiverse in the process. Jean was never one of the bad guys." Night Wing insisted.

Green Arrow and Flash approached. Inwardly, Night Wing sighed. This would be the hardest part.

The two men's faces were downcast, and a mixture of anger and sadness. Overshadowed most of all by hopelessness.

"Before the portal closed, I talked to Wally and Artemis." He offered, knowing that it wasn't the same as actually having them there in person. "They wanted you to know that-"

"HELLO WORLD! KID FLASH IS IN DA HOUSE!"

Flash and Green Arrow froze, staring over Night Wing's shoulders.

Green Arrow shouldered past Night Wing, pushing him aside as he ran to embrace his prodige. A few seconds later Flash recovered from his daze and sped past Night Wing as well.

Murmurs of shock and excitement ran through the crowd of assembled superheroes.

Night Wing continued to stand where he was. He happened to be facing the sunrise. It was a beautiful sunrise, and as soon as Night Wing turned around, something would go wrong. Wally and Artemis wouldn't be standing there.

The universe would implode.

Something!

Then Night Wing heard the laugh. He turned around.

"Sup, Wally. Hey, Artemis."


	32. BONUS CHAPTER- Wally's Letter

**Professor Xavier**

The letter that Sportsmaster handed the the wheelchair bound man was brief and hastily written. Honestly, The Professor expected nothing less from Wally.

 _Dear Prof (and the X-men)_

Thanks _for everything. If you're reading this letter, it probably means that Artemis and I are gone. I just hope that we made it home alright. I wrote this in case anything ever happens to me or Artemis, good or bad._

 _You guys should know that you all mean the world to me. Kitty, Kurt, Rhane, even Wolverine, the list goes on and on. If it weren't for you guys I probably would have stuck around with the Brotherhood ( with mine and Pietro's personalities, there's no doubt that Bayville wouldn't be left standing after a week). In all seriousness, you guys have made a big difference on my life. When I was lost and confused in a new world, you guys took me in, even after I attacked you. You guys became my family. I know Artemis feels the same. Even if she won't admit it, I thinks she's kind of attached to you guys too._

 _Still, if we're family, that means that you can't get rid of us. I'll be back eventually (I'll find a way)._

 _So even though this is goodbye, just know that we'll be seeing you soon._

 _Wow that sounds cheesy._

 _-Wally and Artemis_

"Vait, so dey are gone!?" Kurt shouted, grabbing the letter from the professor's hands and skimming it over with his own two, yellow eyes. "I can't believe dey vould just leave us like dis!"

Kitty seemed understandably upset after hearing the letter as well.

"Stupid Red-heads, always trying to leave us!" She grumbled.

Jean smiled, although she was a little confused. It seemed that the X-men had grown very attached to the infamous Wally and Artemis that Night Wing had constantly obsessed over. In a way, it was comforting to know that the X-men had been in good hands during Jean's absence.

"Well, Wally said he would see us soon, so its safe to assume they'll come back and visit." The Professor hypothesized.

"Pffttt. Forget waiting!" Forge shouted, holding up a metallic button-like device. "I wasn't dumb enough to let Wally and Artemis have the only working, safe, prototype of my new inter-dimensional travelling device."

"So you're saying?" Wolverine questioned.

"Forget waiting, we can go visit THEM!" said Kitty excitedly, grasping at the device.

"And I can visit Beast Boy and the Teen Titans and I can go back and find a way to help Martian Manhunter!" Jean realized aloud.

"Who's Beast Boy?" Scott asked suspiciously, a hint of jealousy tinting his features.

"If I recall from you memories correctly Jean, aren't you a wanted fugitive on this other Earth?" The Professor warned.

 _'We just got you back Jean. The X-men don't want to lose you again.'_ The Professor's voice resounded clearly inside Jean's mind.

' _And that's exactly why I'll be fine, Professor.'_ Jean mentally replied back.

The Professor could tell that Jean, despite having recently found her way home, was excited at the prospect of returning back to the other world, especially if she was accompanied by her loved ones the second time round. The Professor gazed at the encircled X-men, who were all gazing at him hopefully. They wanted to visit Wally and Artemis too.

Professor Xavier had foolishly assumed that when Jean returned home, and he received the letter from Kid Flash and Artemis, the adventure had come to an end.

He was wrong. The second round was only just beginning.

"The second time round..." The Professor took a deep breath, hardly believing what he was about to say. "The second time round, I expect you all to be home in time for dinner."

 ** _1st off-_** ** _Hey guys! I didn't like the ending of Chapter 30, so I added a little bonus chapter!_**

 ** _2nd off- I updated and re-edited Ch #30. I'm almost embarrassed when I see all the mistakes I missed! Don't worry, however, no major plot points were changed. I just tied things together a little more smoothly._**


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